The Flame alchemist's Lieutenant
by Eli White
Summary: Roy takes on an apprentice and a deadly new alchemist using an unique alchemy threatens Amestris and after Roy fights him off he starts going after the people Roy loves most. Review if you read.
1. The Apprentice

The Flame Alchemist's Lieutenant

**By EW and FFF. Edited by FFF. Typed by EW.**

**I hope you all enjoy my first chapter fanfict to be posted, not written. If you do like it then you should check out my other story _Bullick N. Temper. _Anyways on with the story.**

**Disclaimer; Hey Awakara, if this story offends you and you want to sue, I'll take it as that's how you show your biggest fans love.**

Two years had passed since the promised day and not a day went by that Roy didn't think about what had happened, what had almost happened. He and Riza had changed a lot, but at the same time not at all. After getting his eyesight back, Roy spent all of his time organizing the rebuilding of Ishbal. It was an effort that strengthened Roy Mustang as a household name, as if the promised day hadn't already done that. Roy mostly sat around in his house and was doing that when he got a knock on his door.

He opened it without must thought as to who it could be. In front of him was a woman in her mid-twenties with long, golden hair. Roy had almost mistaken her as Riza.

"Roy Mustang?" She said.

"And you are?" Roy asked tiredly.

"Annie, Annie Corsair. I want to learn alchemy."

"And why come to me?"

"I want to learn from the best, so I can become the best. Just like you did."

Roy stared at her for a moment, then chuckled. 'No one has ever asked me to become my apprentice before.' Roy thought, his ego thoroughly stroked. "Fine, come in. We'll see if you have what it takes to be a true alchemist." He let her in.

…

The next morning at work, Roy went up to Riza's desk. "Lieutenant, I'll be taking the next couple of weeks off. I hope that won't be cause you any problems. To help make up for it, I got two new members for our team. You should know them. They're 2nd Lt. Maria Ross and Sergeant Donny … I requested them after Alex Armstrong got transferred." 'Or something like that. I was pretty drunk went I heard the news.' Roy smirked and shook his head. 'That was one hell of a night.' "Anyways, you'll be seeing them some time tomorrow, maybe. If they do, help them settle in."

"Yes sir." Hawkeye responded, refraining herself from asking why he'd take the weeks off. "And I believe its Denny Brosh, not Donny."

Roy shrugged his shoulders. "Not much difference."

…

Annie started out excited about her first day of alchemy lessons with Roy, but then as they walked the streets, Roy kept stopping to chat with old friends, strangers, and beggars. It got boring after awhile. "Where are we going and why do you keep stopping to talk to the locals?" She asked as they were walking.

"The whole idea behind alchemy is to use it for the benefit of others. To know what the people need, you need to talk to them. If you can't understand that, then you can forget about learning alchemy from me." Roy said.

"I'm sorry." From that point onwards Annie was more open and eager to talk to the locals.

….

Riza went to bed feeling lonely as she often did at night. She was a girl who had never been with anyone and with her heart belonging to her superior, there was no question about her being with anyone anytime soon. She thought of him now. Roy's handsome face and the things he's said to her, looking into his words, searching for something that said he loved her, but the cold truth was that it didn't matter. They aren't together and they never could be.

Riza sighed and got out of bed. She want into the kitchen and made some tea. She talked to her dog, Black Hayate, about things she had to do tomorrow as she sipped her tea, trying to get Roy off her mind. It helped a little, but Riza still felt very alone. She went back to bed and tried to find sleep, but sleep never came.

…

Roy enjoyed the time he spent with Annie. He was also happy to be out of the office and outside talking with others. Every now and then he would use alchemy to fix something. He never used flame alchemy of course, and he never just clapped his hands. Where was the lesson in that? He would always draw transmutation circles to teach Annie. He enjoyed her company. Maybe a little too much, for when he returned to work he brought Annie with him. He sat at his desk and she took a seat next to his desk and watched him.

"…sir…who is this?" Riza said, both in shock and dismayed to see a strange woman by Roy when she walked into the office. The woman wasn't in uniform and therefor, likely a citizen. So what was she doing here?

"Oh, right. Lieutenant this is Annie Corsair. Annie, Lt. Hawkeye." Roy introduced them as Annie got up and went up to Hawkeye. "Annie is uh . . . ha . . ." Roy started fearful of how Riza would react.

Annie held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Roy's student. He's teaching me flame alchemy."

"Well I haven't taught her anything yet." Roy quickly added to save himself, hopefully.

Riza froze up. She looked at Annie, then Roy. She was in shock. 'I had him destroy my father's secrets just so there wouldn't be another flame alchemist. He knows that.' She felt betrayed by him to hear he was going to give her father's secrets away without her consent. She looked back at Annie. "Flame alchemy can easily be used for the wrong reasons. I don't think its something you want to learn." She said, careful not to take her anger out on her when it was Roy she was mad at.

Annie smiled, apparently oblivious to Riza's true feelings." Roy told me the same thing, but I have my heart set out on learning it. Which is why I'm grateful for him taking me on as his apprentice. Its so hard to find an alchemist with any real skill, especially one looking to train someone." Annie said, putting her hand down, finally realizing Riza wasn't going to shake it.

"Annie, come on and have a seat and we'll talk. Let the lieutenant get to her work." Roy said.

"Okay." With a small nod to Riza in farewell, she went back to Roy's desk.

Riza had troubles focusing on her paperwork though, she wanted to talk to Roy. Luckily for her she got her chance to after work when Roy made everyone else leave earlily.

"I think we should have a talk lieutenant." Roy said knowing he had to explain things, and that it was safe to with everyone else out of the room.

"I agree sir." She said coldly. "I was wondering when you took her on as an apprentice. I have a good guess though. Was it around the time you decided to take a week off of work?" She stood up. "You've decided to teach her flame alchemy? After what you've been through in Ishbal? After I told you I wanted to prevent there ever being another flame alchemist?! How could you sir?! What made you do this? Tell Me!"

"Annie did." Roy replied with simple ease. "She believes I can make her the best alchemist ever. She could be if I teach her to avoid all the mistakes I've made"

"You really believe you can do that?" Riza said in disbelief. "She's going to make mistakes sir. The best thing to do is not teach her flame alchemy at all!"

"I know she'll still make some mistakes. She's human. We all do, its only natural. I'll make sure I'm there to help her correct it." 'Unlike your father.'

"You can't always be there! Damn it sir! I had you burn my back just for this reason! Now you're telling me it was all for nothing?!"

Roy snorted. "I never said I would teach her the secrets to flame alchemy. If she wants to learn that she'll have to figure it out for herself." Roy had only said that now that she had _asked _and not _ordered_ him. He was hurt though that she thought he would go behind her back like that.

Riza was silent for a moment. "If you're not going to teach her the secrets, what would there be to teach her about flame alchemy?" She questioned, the anger in her voice dying.

Roy was quiet for a long time before answering. "What do you think your father was teaching me in his study?" 'She doesn't know much about alchemy at all.' Roy got up and walked toward the exit.

"I thought he taught you just the basics of alchemy"

Roy ignored her answer and left. Riza was usually the one person he wanted to be around to put his mind at ease, but since she was now causing the unease, he found himself longing for Annie's company. He hurried back home and readied himself for bed so that he would be well rested for the next lesson he would teach her.

…

**The one scene where Riza lies in bed alone had been a masturbating scene, but the editor changed it. **

**Please review this. **


	2. Pajamas

**This chapter was late due to me getting poison ivy… on my hands.**

**Art by FFF. **

**Cast; Roy Mustang EW, Riza Hawkeye FFF, Annie Corsair EW, Denny Brosh EW, Maria Ross FFF, Rebecca FFF, Jean Havoc EW. More to be named later.**

**Disclaimer; I am not Entertainment Weekly, I am Eli White.**

…

When she got a chance to, Riza went down to the gun range. It had been awhile since she's fired a gun, so it would be good to practice. Also, practicing helped her forget what she was feeling. She was ashamed of accusing Roy of going to give away her father's secrets, but she was confused as to how she felt about Annie.

Riza practiced with her 45. first for awhile, then moved on to practice with her rifle. It was then that she noticed Rebecca coming over. Riza lowered her weapon as her friend waved in greeting.

"I haven't seen you around here in ages." Rebecca said.

"Well , I've been busy."

"You probably won't be so busy anymore with those two new teammates to help with the paperwork. How are they doing?"

"Just fine. I think they're a great addition to the team." Riza replied, then was quiet for a brief moment, before adding, "The General has an apprentice, have you heard?"

"Huh?"

"He's teaching some woman alchemy."

"Oh. No, I haven't." Rebecca rubbed her forefinger and thumb against her chin in thought. "A woman you say? Strange. I thought he stopped dating a long time ago."

"I said apprentice, not girlfriend." Riza said annoyed. "Why is everything always dating with you?"

"If they're not dating now, they will be. Its obvious. I mean, she is young and pretty isn't she?"

Riza wanted to say **no **to prove her wrong, but Annie is young and pretty.

At Riza's silence, Rebecca went on. "Its been awhile since he's dated and now there's going to be this girl he's going to be around all the time, teaching. Things are going to happen."

Riza shrugged and raised her rifle to resume practicing, not liking where the conversation had turned. "I need to practice. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. See you!" Rebecca said, walking off.

…

Roy returned home from work tired. He had stayed up last night to teach Annie, which wasn't much. There just wasn't enough time to teach her anything, because of how far she lived from him. So when she came over that night to study, Roy sat down with her on the couch.

"How would you like to live with me here so that you can study more?" Roy offered.

"Here? You mean your house?"

Roy nodded.

"Yes! Of course! I can't believe I'm going to be living with the great Roy Mustang!" Annie blurted out excitedly and jumped to her feet.

"So I'm great huh?" Roy smirked. This woman knew how to stroke an ego.

"Uhh …" Annie looked away and blushed.

"Let's get to studying."

…

Roy wasn't sure how it happened or started, one moment he was helping Annie move in early in the morning, the next they're making out on the couch. They had been at it for awhile and were starting to feel each other up when Roy looked at his clock. He pushed Annie away from him.

"Oh shit! I'm late for work!" He jumped to his feet and straightened himself out. He quickly ran out the door.

"Wait!" Annie called after him, but he kept going.

"Whatever it is, it'll have to wait till this evening!"

"But …" Annie looked over her shoulder at Roy's bedroom where his uniform laid on his bed and sighed.

…

Roy stopped just short of the office door and took a breath. 'I sure got a lot of funny looks aimed at me today.' He thought as he walked into the office.

"Hey chief … you coming in to pick up some documents?" Havoc asked.

"No." Roy said, taking a seat at his desk.

"Oh, you just can't stay long." Havoc said, trying to find an explanation for Roy's appearance.

"What do you mean? If anything, I'll have to stay late." Roy said, annoyed.

"…"

Roy realized everyone was staring at him. 'What the …' Roy looked down at himself. 'Crap. Shit. How could I've not noticed that sooner?!' Roy was in his sleepwear; a white tank top and grey sweatpants. 'Just go with it.' "What? I see no reason why I should put on my uniform just to do paperwork, but if everyone is going to make such a big deal about it then I won't do it again." Roy said, angry with himself.

Riza didn't know what to say. She couldn't even think of why he had mistakenly come in his pajamas. All she could do was stare at him. It had been so long since she's last seen those muscular arms of his. She could even see a bit of his chest. It was nice to see them again for it was always a rare opportunity for her to see this much of his bare skin.

Maria and Denny looked at each other, wondering if this kind of craziness was to be expected regularly with their new superior.

… 

Annie came into the office with some bags that afternoon as if she had gone shopping. She went over to Roy's desk and set the bags down. "Hey. How's is going?" She whispered.

"How do you think?" Roy whispered back.

"Well, I brought something that might help you." She grabbed her bags and left.

Roy thought for a moment that she had abandoned him, until he looked down and saw that she had left a bag behind that held in it his uniform. Silently thanking her, he took the bag and left to change.

Riza was quite suspicious when Roy returned in his uniform. She knew Annie had to of left it, but how had she gotten a hold of a general's uniform?

…

Roy was glad with the timing of him and Annie getting intimate. They could share his bed instead of him sleeping on the couch as he would've done as a gentleman. Roy dated Annie and found they had a lot in common. He couldn't seem to find enough time to spend with her. One side effect was that dating her had brought back his sex drive, which he wasn't planing on using. He had stopped dating for a reason.

Roy hit the gym at work more, something the female officers enjoyed watching. Even Riza would watch, though she never stayed long and she always walked away feeling a little sad.

Three weeks passed and Roy was still happy. He finished work early and was now restocking his desk. When he was done, he planned on asking Riza if she wanted to get drinks with him, then, after being shot down, he would go work out Riza would watch if she wanted to. 'Of course she will.' Roy opened the door to the storage room to get some envelopes and found Denny and Maria inside making out. They quickly jumped apart.

"We were just-" Denny started.

"Don't care." Roy interrupted and grabbed some envelopes, before slamming the door shut in Denny's Face.

Just as Roy sat down, he heard a nearby explosion and felt the ground shake a little. "What was that?" Roy asked Riza, confused. He heard shouting and shooting next. "Lieutenant is there a drill going on today?" Roy asked, though he doubted it. If there was, he would've been informed about it, if not be made to watch it as the head of eastern command.

Before Riza could respond, Denny and Maria stumbled out of the closet as an alarm started to go off. "What's going on?" Denny asked.

"I don't know … yet." Roy said as he put on his gloves.

…

**Next chapter (not) " But I am getting the fuck out of here!" **


	3. Round 1

Thanks for the reviews everyone. I feel popular. How humble am I …

**Also I saw that 200 people read my story, wow, yet I only get two reviews. One review per every 100 readers is sad people. Tell me your opinion on this story. It takes like one f**king minute to review. So please kindly take the time out of your day to tell me what you think. It not like you have something better to do. You're on a web site reading fanfic. I hope I didn't come of mean here.**

**More cast; Rebound Alchemist EW, Sgt. Sherman EW. **

Once his gloves were on the phone rang. "What's going on?" Roy asked the question of the day when he picked up the phone.

"General, this is Sgt. Sherman. One intruder has broken into the eastern side of HQ's. Nothing we throw at him takes him down. He appears to be an alchemist."

"Move everyone back. I'm going in." Roy hung up. "Hawkeye, you're coming with me. Everyone else, stay behind." Roy ordered, hurrying from the room.

Riza took off after him. They hurried outside and followed the sounds of explosions to where they found a man who basically just stood there and sent explosions around to take out artillery and a few soldiers who either didn't retreat or couldn't.

'_An alchemist?' _ Roy snapped his fingers and the man became engulfed in flames. To Roy's shock, the flames paused then dead out. '_Impossible. He's like that __** Father**__ guy.' _

"Ah, Roy Mustang. The flame alchemist." The man said.

"What gave me away?"

Riza quickly pulled out her 45. And shot at the stranger. Each bullet stopped a foot short, then fell to the ground harmlessly.

"Now, now. Is that anyway to greet someone?" He asked and another wave of flames hit him, but the same thing happened as last time. "You're starting to piss me off." He grinned and twitched his foot. It was enough to send an explosion towards them.

Roy quickly put up a wall to protect them, but it was blown sky-high while Roy and Riza were tossed backwards.

"You really didn't hold back, did you?" The man laughed.

Roy staggered to his feet. He glanced at Riza and saw she was alright. "As if it matters. It doesn't seem like I can do damage against you." He replied. _'If I can keep him talking maybe he won't kill us and he'll reveal his secret.'_

"Oh! But it does! I attacked you with the same amount of force you attacked me with."

"You're drawing your energy from anything that tries to hit you?"

"That's right. It looks like you're learning unlike anyone else I've faced."

"You're not an alchemist then. Alchemist draw their energy from the Earth's tectonic plates."

"Call me whatever you wish, just stay back while I blow this place to bits."

Roy couldn't allow that. "Hold it asshole. Why would you want to destroy this place?"

The man frowned. "How rude. I only want to take over this country. All I have to do is do a show of strength and hopefully the military will surrender to me without the need for more to die."

Riza wondered if he could be injured if he didn't see the shot coming, but it was useless with his attention on them unless someone else managed to do it. She stood up, the clasp that held her hair was loss after being blown thrown back by the force of the blast, so now her golden hair was hanging down past her shoulders.

"With a plan like that, people won't just accept you." Roy said.

"They'll fear me!" He answered quickly.

No more talk. It was time to act. "Stay back lieutenant." Roy ordered. _'Maybe if I can get close enough I can hit him.'_ He thought, using a pillar of rock to send him forward. As Roy came toward him, the man sent an explosion toward him. Roy jumped from the pillar to dodge it just to watch it pass him and head for Hawkeye. Roy stopped and turned back. "LIEUTENANT!"

But when it reached her, nothing happened. Roy quickly looked back at the man, but was too late as he was violently blown back. He's body slammed to the ground just short of Hawkeye and laid still.

"GENERAL!" Riza quickly knelt down by his side, needing to know if he was still alive, but he was still. Riza lost it. She reloaded her gun at the man and grabbed her other 45., getting up. She ran at the man, shooting at him. Just as she reach him, he grabbed the barrel of her gun and crushed it. He caught a bullet just as it began to fall.

"I like to use these too." He placed the bullet onto his thumb and aimed it at Hawkeye's head, ready to flick it.

Just then, a spear raised out of the ground through his foot. He quickly exploded the spear and jumped away. "You win this round." He sneered and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Riza stared in stunned silence and looked all around her, but the stranger was gone. She dropped her guns and hurried back to Roy, knowing it could only have been him who made the spear. He was alive.

"Why did you charge him when it clearly didn't work for me?" Roy asked, for once, not if she was okay. He knew that if he had gotten her, she would be dead.

"Never mind that sir! We need to get you to a medic!"

Roy slowly got to his feet. Something in his back snapped back into place as he stood up. "I'm fine lieutenant." Roy said and then passed out.

…

Riza sat by Roy's bedside in the hospital, waiting for him to wake up. She was alone in the room with him. "I'm sorry for charging at him sir. It's just … I wasn't thinking clearly." She told him quietly, whispering the words. Not that it mattered to him now; he was unconscious. But it made her feel better.

"I thought you were dead. I know it shouldn't matter to me, but I can't help it. I love you." With a tenative hand she reached over and ran her fingers down his cheek. "It kills me to pretend I don't and keep my distance. I want to be with you, but I have to help you reach your goal. I have to be there to watch your back and that comes first." Her hand moved to his arm and it rested there. Riza found herself longing to kiss him and she could without anyone ever knowing. The temptation was great though she knew she shouldn't.

She was trying to reason it and build up the courage to do it, when footsteps in the hall made her quickly take her hand off him. But the footsteps kept going, passing Roy's door. Riza hung her head with a sigh. Any courage she had tried to build up vanished. "I truly am pathetic sir."

Annie had only heard the last line and didn't know if she should leave and come back later or go in anyway. She didn't want to interrupt her moment, but she had to know how Roy was doing. Annie knocked on the door jam before stepping inside the room. "How is he?" She asked, though she already knew the answer. The nurse that led her here how told her.

Riza looked up and turned to see Annie, then looked back down. "He's unconscious."

"What happened? There was a lot of confusion on the radio about it."

Riza explained what had happened in the simplest terms.

Annie was quiet for a moment. "Why did he attack Eastern Command?"

"He was hoping the military would surrender and let him rule the country." Riza replied.

"Hmm …" Annie went into deep thought and didn't even notice when Roy sat up a couple of minutes later, until he spoke.

"Uh, … what happened?" Roy rubbed his eyes. As he dropped his arms down he felt someone embrace him.

"Oh Roy, I was so worried about you!" Annie said, and then kissed him.

Roy noticed Riza was also in the room and felt awkward, the kiss was lasting to long for his comfort. He was glad once she broke away and backed off a little.

But by then, Riza was no longer there. She had left.

Roy was upset that Hawkeye had left without saying a word and he was pissed that the doctors wouldn't let him leave until morning, unless Hawkeye withdrew him since she had signed him in. He couldn't blame her though, because if he had seen a guy kissing her and he was right next to them, he'd knock the guy out. Or use flame alchemy on him. Or both.

Since he couldn't talk to Riza about the newest threat, he decided talked to Annie.

…

**I threw in "What gave me away?" last second as a funny.**

**I know Roy doesn't actually 'snap' his fingers, I just prefer snapped over rubbed.**

**The 'Rebound Alchemist' isn't using alkahistory (however you spell it.) there are differences I am to lazy to point out, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be to lazy to review!**

**Please review…. **


	4. Bar Fight

**This story was originally called 'The Alchemist's Apprentice.' **

**Cast; Ralph FFF.**

**Disclaimer; I am not a cow, for I am far too thin to be one.**

Riza went to the hospital that morning to check on Roy and found him in his room, putting on his uniform. Annie wasn't there.

Roy turned to see who had entered the room, before putting on his shirt. "Lieutenant." He greeted her. "You are a little late to see anything."

"That's not why I came here sir." She said with a sigh. "I wanted to see if you could leave the hospital and we need to discuss the latest threat."

"Agreed." Roy said and grimaced as he put on his coat. "We'll discuss it at work with the team."

"Yes sir." Riza followed him when he left the room and Annie soon joined them, as she had been waiting outside.

…

At Roy's office, Roy took a seat at his desk and Annie sat on the corner of his desk.

"Let's start on how to fight him." Roy began.

"The same thing won't work. I think he's too smart for that." Annie said.

Riza was pissed that Annie had become involved. The girl was weak. She had no military training. She was just an alchemist's apprentice, who seemed to spend all of her time hanging off of Roy. "It might just be that it needs to be an attack he doesn't see coming." Riza said, making an actual suggestion.

"So the next time he strikes, we set up snipers in the immediate surrounding area." Havoc said.

"No. I don't want _normal _ people anywhere near him, let alone attacking him based off a guess." Roy said.

"What about hand to hand combat? He doesn't seem to like it when people try to get close to him." Annie suggested. "Or so I've been told."

Roy nodded. "Could work."

'_**Normal **__ people?' _Riza thought. That explained why Annie was here. Roy just wanted

people who could use alchemy to fight.

"Using snipers won't hurt to give a try." Denny spoke up.

Roy shrugged. "It really depends on the situation."

"Do you think he'll attack the same way he did last time?" Maria asked.

"He did say we won this round." Roy said. "Which leads me to believe he's the vengeful type."

"So since Roy defeated him, he'll go after him again." Annie said.

"I am a threat to his goal, he said he wanted to become fuhrer." Roy said nodding. Then it hit him. The guy knows he cares for Riza. He could target her to get to him like he had done before. _'Damn it. I've put her in danger.' _ "We'll put HQ's under high alert until this threat is resolved."

…

A couple of days later, Riza was at a bar that night after work. She was worn out and frustrated. Not just because of work, but because it felt like Annie was taking her place. It was her following Roy around, it was her advice Roy was listening to. What upset her was that the two had to be living together and were probably inimate. She sipped her beer, wishing she had something good to think about.

It was then that a man by the name of Ralph approached her. "Hey, are you here with someone?"

"No." She replied.

""Really? That's hard to believe. A young, beautiful woman like you here by yourself." Ralph seemed surprised. "There must be someone that you're with." He said.

Its been a long time since someone's complimented her or hit on her. "No." She answered, thinking about Roy and Annie. "I'm not."

…

Riza sat in her apartment later that night, alone. Despite the pain he's caused her by dating other women, she didn't want to do this to Roy and hurt him, but she was scared of losing him to Annie. No other woman had ever moved in with him. Making him jealous was the only thing she felt she could do. Then he'll understand what he does to her and stop, hopefully. If he loves her.

…

Roy made sure Annie never left his side. She wasn't good enough at alchemy to protect herself from the man code named ** The Rebound Alchemist.** Annie soon realized this.

"When are you going to teach me the secrets to flame alchemy?" Annie asked Roy on their way to his office.

"I don't think you're ready to learn that yet." Roy dodged a real answer.

"I asked you when."

"… its hard to say."

"I need to be able to defend myself."

"Just stay by me."

Annie glared at him. Roy sighed. "I wasn't ever going to teach you them."

"What?! I told you I wanted to be the best! How can I do that if you're not willing to teach me?"

Roy wasn't in the mood for this. He already had enough on his mind. He dumped this problem onto Riza. "Tell you what, if you get Lt. Hawkeye to be okay with it, then I'll teach you them."

"okay!" Annie said, obviously thinking that it would be easy to do so.

Roy didn't care as long as it kept her quiet. He parked his car and the two walked inside the still badly damaged HQ's.

Once in the office, Annie went right up to Riza. "Do you care if Roy teaches me the secrets to flame alchemy?" She asked sweetly.

"I do care actually, and I prefer that he didn't."

Annie looked confused. "Why not?"

Riza knew Roy put her up to this. She looked up at Annie. "I think one flame alchemist in this world is enough."

Annie realized that Roy had set her up. She couldn't convince Riza otherwise. She walked over to Roy and kicked him in the shin. "Jerk." She mumbled, and left it at that. She still needed an alchemy teacher and as far as she cared Roy was the best. So decided she could live without the secrets to flame alchemy.

…

Riza went out with Ralph again that night and even though she didn't care for him, she didn't act that way. She enjoyed dating, just to go out and have someone treat her nice. Ralph never said much about himself when they talked, but when he did, it was always something nice.

"Shall we go to my place?" Ralph suggested after they left the restaurant.

"Oh, no. I can't I have a dog at my place to take care of."

"That's fine."

Riza didn't like his reply and sure enough, when they reached her apartment door, he looked expectant. Not like someone ready to say good-bye. "Well … uh, goodnight." She said.

"You aren't going to invite me in?" Ralph asked softly, moving closer to her.

"I … well, no." Riza realized how awful that sounded. "Maybe next time." She added with a small, sly smile.

"Alright." He smiled back and then left.

Riza went inside and called Rebecca to tell her how wonderful Ralph was, knowing she'd spread the word of her dating.

…

The next day after lunch, Havoc went up to Roy. "Hey chief, do you want to go get some drinks after work?"

"I'd like to, but I far to busy."

"Come on sir, you've been working your ass off. You can take some time off to drink with your best friend and chat."

Roy sighed. "I guess."

…

Much to Havoc's displeasure, Roy dragged Annie along. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" Roy asked as the bartender handed them their drinks.

"So you figured me out huh?" Havoc said. 'Annie's here, so I don't want to blow it for Roy.' "I've heard the lieutenant's been dating."

Roy nearly choked on his beer and Annie stared, wondering if he was going to be okay. "Where did you here that?" Roy asked, swallowing his beer.

"It's been going around. I heard it from Rebecca at lunch today."

"Well I doubt its true." Roy said as Annie got up and moved away, not interested in office gossip.

"I don't know about that. Rebecca says Riza really likes this Ralph guy."

Roy frowned at the name. _'Ralph? No, it can't be.' _ Roy got up and headed towards the restroom, but on his way there, he saw said Ralph talking with his buddies, complaining about a girl.

Roy couldn't believe it. He remembered he used to be friends with the guy, but they had a big fallout in which they became enemies. It had been awhile since he had last seen him, and years since they had been friends.

Roy couldn't believe Riza would be foolish enough to fall for Ralph's tricks. But maybe she was dating a different Ralph. Roy approached his table.

"Well, long time no see Ralph. Not long enough for me though. Are you having trouble with your latest victim?"

"You make it sound as if I treat them badly Roy." Ralph said, turning to him. "The girl I'm with now doesn't think that. She loves me. A bit clingy for my taste though. Why do you care? Are you having girl trouble?"

"Oh, no. My relationships last longer than a week. Did you know that was possible? Do you even know the name of the girl you are dating?"

"Its … Liza. Or something like that."

"1st Lt. Riza Hawkeye?"

"Yeah-"

Roy's fist hit Ralph's face, cutting him off. He then hit him again and again.

With Ralph sitting down, he couldn't fight back or protect himself very well and when Havoc came over to stop the beat down, Ralph's face was pretty bloody. Havoc bear hugged Roy from behind, effectively pinning his own arms to his sides and pulled him away from Ralph.

"Break it up you two! What's-" Havoc started.

"You better stay the hell away from her you bastard!" Roy snared.

"I'll screw whoever I want to!" Ralph shot back. "I'll like to see you stop me!"

No one in the bar paid them any attention, it was just that kind of place.

Roy struggle in Havoc's grip until they were out of the bar. "Hell chief, I didn't think you would get so jealous over Riza." Havoc released him.

Roy glared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about. I punched a guy who was being an ass."

"More like beat him senseless." Havoc grumbled as Annie left the bar and joined them.

"What the fuck was that about?" She asked.

"I lost my temper." Roy sighed.

"He was just showing you what not to do." Havoc laughed.

Roy turned to him and pointed away. "You get to walk home."

"Awww … Damn it."

…

**People,** **Annie ain't evil. Neither is Ralph, but he is an asshole. **


	5. Roy's Bodyguard

**How awesome was that last chapter? Like, nothing happened. That changes now.**

**Don't forget to review to help me sleep at night. I am accepting guest reviews. Yes! Reviews are welcome. So review my story and I'll stop these annoying rants.(They are annoying to me. I shouldn't have to type them.)  
**

…

Roy, Riza, and Annie had just went though the main gate at HQ's when they were leaving work the next day, when they suddenly stopped. Across the street was the Rebound Alchemist.

"Annie, go to the car and-" Roy was cut off when the pocking lot exploded. Before Roy could come up with a new plan, another explosion came towards them. Roy put up a large ramp to block it. It worked better than the wall had and only took minor damage. Roy didn't have his gloves on, so he couldn't return fire with fire. Not that it mattered. The man would've just absorbed the energy from the flames. Roy looked at Riza and Annie. "One of you get the other out of here!" He ordered, then ran up the ramp.

"But I can help!" Annie's protest fell on deaf ears.

Roy made pipes shoot out of the ground and at the alchemist. He rode one of the pipes to get closer, but as expected, the pipes stopped just short of him. Roy jumped and kicked out at him.

The Rebound Alchemist simply caught Roy's foot and twisted it so that it broke violently.

"Ah, you son of a bitch." Roy said though gritted teeth and clapped his hands as the Rebound Alchemist raised his fist to hit him with enough force to go through him.

Riza pulled out a new 45. She had recently gotten, though she was hesitant to use it because it'd just give the man more power, but Roy couldn't fight this guy by himself. She poked her head out from behund the ramp, took aim, and fired a shot.

The man stopped and so did the bullet. Roy used that time to send jagged rocks up through the ground. The Rebound Alchemist jumped back several times to avoid the attack. Roy tried to get up, but found that he couldn't.

Annie ran to his side and Riza followed her. Riza realized Roy had been right, she was defenseless and useless. This was a fight for alchemist, but the least she can do is get Roy out of here. "Annie, I'll take care of the General! You keep an eye on the Rebound Alchemist!" Riza quickly told her, before going to help Roy up.

"That's easier said than done! You have bullets and a gun, shoot him! I have to draw a transmutation circle because _one flame alchemist is enough_!" Annie snapped.

"Fine! Just get him out of here!" Riza turned away from Roy and held her gun up, aiming at the Alchemist. She hoped Annie would hurry. She only had so many bullets.

The Rebound Alchemist started walking towards her. "Oh what, is that the best you can do? Fire away. It won't do you any good." She started firing, each bullet stopping just short of him. He smiled when she ran out of ammo. "My turn."

Just then, a pipe ripped out of the ground and hit him in the groin, causing him to stumble backwards as flames erupted from the pipe and into his face. He howled in pain, and was gone in a heartbeat, vanishing.

Annie moved her hands away from the transmutation circle. "Well, I meant to hit him in the chest, but the groin works too."

Roy rolled over onto his back, his gloved hand falling to the ground as Riza lowered her gun. Yet again, they just barely managed to win, but it still wasn't over.

…

At the hospital, Riza and Annie were allowed in after the doctors had taken care of Roy's foot. Roy looked at them sleepily from being sedated when they entered. "Lieutenant, hit Annie for me."

"What?! Why?" Annie asked.

"For using alchemy to harm someone."

"But he was a bad guy! Besides you harmed him too!"

"I told you to _never _ use alchemy to hurt people. Even if they are evil, because its hard to draw the line between who is evil and who is not."

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it." Roy cut her off.

"Sorry for saving your ass." She left angry.

"You shouldn't be so hard on her sir. She did save us all back there." Riza never thought she would defend Annie, but the way Roy had just treated her wasn't right.

"I went easy on her. Hard would have been me exspelling her. I saved us all too, and so did you." '_Its not like she did everything.' _Roy didn't like to talk while sedated, he had to watch the words that left his mouth carefully.

"Yes, well next time I think you and Annie should fight him together with your alchemy. It seems to me to be the best way. He certainly can't be fought one-on-one."

"I want you to too. It appears that he can't unleash energy while absorbing it, so your long-ranged attacks are useful."

"Yes sir. I'll come back to check on you in the morning. Its been along day." Riza left.

…

Rebecca sat by Riza at lunch the next day. "I heard Roy's apprentice kicked the guy's ass."

"She did. The General didn't like it though." Riza said.

"What?"

"He hadn't wanted her to fight."

"Ah, I see. He's really protective of her. She must be special." Rebecca said with a smile.

Riza sighed.

"So how are things with Ralph?" Rebecca asked.

"I think we're through. I haven't seen or heard from him since our last date."

"Oh"

…

Roy sat in his hospital bed, bored. He wished Riza was here. He wanted to talk to her. Alone, he was plagued with thoughts of why she might be dating, the scariest of which simply being that she didn't love him.

Then, at last, Riza appeared. "How are you doing sir?" She asked when she came in.

"Well, I got nothing to do. It would be nice to get a newspaper or radio to bide my time with."

"I'll be sure to get you something sir. Do you know when you might be released from the hospital?"

"As soon as possible . . . how's Ralph?" Roy decided to ask her, before she had any chance to leave.

Caught off guard, she looked at him in surprise. "Ralph? I don't know, but we're not together anymore. I'm going to find someone better." She added, looking for a jealous reaction.

Roy's heart twisted in pain, but he refused to show it. He was wishing with all his might that she was hitting on him. "Since when do you have the time to date?" Roy asked.

Riza was heartbroken to find he wasn't jealous at all. Suddenly she wished to leave. "I've found some time to. After work. In the evening. I should go. I'll bring you something in the morning." She left, before he could object to her doing so.

She brought him a newspaper that morning and soon left again, neither knowing what to say to the other.

When she came back that evening after work, Roy was struggling to talk to an old man in a different language. The old man sighed and said something displeased. Roy shouted back, annoyed, then he noticed Hawkeye. He spoke softly to the man in Amestrian, who sighed again and left the room. Roy looked back at Hawkeye. "What is it lietenant?"

"I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to interrupt. Its nothing, I'll just go."

Roy was disappointed to hear that. "You don't want to talk? Why did you come?"

"I just wanted to see you and give you some company sir." Riza answered.

"How would you accomplish that by leaving so soon?"

"I wouldn't, but I saw you were busy."

"I sent him away for a reason." There was a snort just outside the door. "And you call me rude?!" Roy shouted. The old man laughed in response.

"Who was that by the way?" She asked, going up to his bedside.

"SOME OLD GUY…!" Roy began loudly. "… who is teaching me Xingese." He finished in a normal tone of voise.

"And how is that going?"

"Slow. I only know a little, but I just started this today. I figured it'd come in handy when I'm the fuhrer. How are things in the office?"

"Everyone is staying alert for another attack, but so far all has been quiet."

"Which is why I need to get better soon. As long as I am out, HQ's is vulnerable." Roy stated.

"Sir, he isn't just targeting HQ's. His last attack shows he is targeting you as well. You should have a bodyguard while you're here." She added, realizing he didn't have one.

"Are you volunteering? No, that would leave Maria and Havoc in a tie for who's in charge of the office and I would rather it be neither of them. Hmm . . ." Roy snapped his fingers. "Annie! She may not be in the military, but she's the next best thing."

Riza felt a wave of pain at the name. "Where would I find her sir?" She asked, afraid her guess was right.

Roy looked out the window, embarrassed. _'She would have found out sooner or later.' _He thought. "At my place." He admitted feeling somewhat ashamed. As if he was telling her he was cheating on her.

Riza bowed her head and left.

Roy wanted Riza as his bodyguard, he wanted her by his side, but he didn't want to hear about her latest boyfriend. So, with Annie as his bodyguard he continued his Xingese lessons.

…

**I finished this at exactly midnight. So that means I didn't write two chapters in one day. I got myself cosplay Roy gloves. They are awesomeness. I will also be getting a state alchemist pocket watch for my birthday. Its an Edward one so I'll be covering the **_**don't forget 3/oct/11 **_**with a picture of** **Riza.**


	6. Are You Sure?

**Blah, blah, blah, let's get to the story.**

**Disclaimer; Just because I own the gloves and a state alchemist watch doesn't make me a state alchemist. I am just playing, it does. BLAM! BOOM!**

**Disclaimer, disclaimer; No it doesn't, but it does suck that the gloves are not made out of a reactive material.**

**Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer; By reactive material I don't mean radioactive. **

…

"You've been lying to me Riza. If you were dating, you wouldn't be so damn depressed." Rebecca said, sitting by her at lunch.

Riza looked at her friend, then back at her untouched tray. "I'm not depressed." She said firmly.

"So you've been starting blankly at your food for no reason then."

Riza started to eat.

"I guess whoever you were trying to make jealous, it didn't work." Rebecca said, causing Riza to nearly choke.

"What? Who said anything about making someone jealous?"

"You dated an idiot who you said was very nice and that you liked him, knowing that he was an idiot. Then the relationship didn't even last a week. Obviously, your trying to get someone's attention. The question is, whose? Who did you fail at making jealous?"

"What does it matter? Even if you're right, you said it yourself that I failed. Clearly whoever it is doesn't care." _'I should've known Rebecca would figure something out. This was a bad idea.'_

… 

When Riza returned to the office, she was startled by what she saw. Denny and Maria quickly pulled away from each other, but before they could say anything, Riza left. It was strange to witness an act she knew to be forbidden in the military. An act she wished she could do with her superior officer, which was to make out as passionately as Denny and Maria had been. Wondering what to do about this, she decided to talk to Roy about it and let him decide.

After work she visited Roy in the hospital and asked to speak with him alone.

When Annie and the Xingese teacher left, Roy turned to Riza. "What is it?"

"Earlier today, I saw Lt. Ross and Sgt. Brosh . . . kissing."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Roy asked with a raised brow. He chose not to tell her that he and Havoc all ready knew this. "I can discharge Brosh, demote Ross and then transfer her somewhere . . . out in the country? That's all I can and will do."

"I am only informing you of it sir."

"Well, by informing me I will be forced to take action. Are you sure you want to inform me?"

Riza was quiet for a long moment. "No sir."

Roy laid back in his bed and blinked. "What is it?"

Riza was confused at first, then realized he was starting the conversation over again. But now she was lost as to what to say to him. Until something occurred to her. "Sir, are you sure it is a good idea to have Annie as a bodyguard, when you don't want her to use alchemy to harm people?"

Roy frowned, pausing for a moment, then laughed. "Leave it to you to figure it out lieutenant. You got me." He calmed down, his face turning serious. "I don't need a bodyguard lieutenant."

She looked at him sternly. "No? So it was just a coincidence that he attacked the front of the building as you were leaving? And you can be certain he won't come here?"

Roy waved his hand dismissively. "Let him come. I can take care of myself."

'_Why is he being so stubborn?' _She thought, frustrated. "Like you took care of yourself the last two times?"

"I learned from my past experiences, I know what to do now."

"Alright, I'll let you get back to your lessons then." Riza said, giving up. She left.

Roy wondered why she had given up so easily. She could argue him into doing whatever she wanted. Did she not care anymore? Roy was afraid so. He saw he was losing her and it hurt. He continued his Xingese lessons until Annie left.

She was learning more Xingese than being a bodyguard and threatened to slap them if they continued without her. But as she was gone, Roy turned to his teacher. "How do you say_ I love you _in xingese?" He asked. For the first time that Roy has known the old man, he smiled.

…

Riza saw Roy again the next day after work to give it another try after talking with Rebecca. "How are you doing sir?"

"Okay I guess." Roy let out a little grunt of pain as he sat up. A sound that made Annie step towards him worriedly, but she stepped back when he raised a hand at her, telling her to stop.

'_Its good that she worries about him. He doesn't ever worry about himself.' _She thought, trying to accept the two were together. "General, exactly how do you plan on defeating the Rebound Alchemist with the condition you're in?" Riza asked, now ignoring the fact Annie was there.

"I fought him off the second time he attacked."

"With my help." Annie added.

"Which wasn't supposed to be given." Roy snapped back.

"Either way, you needed help to defeat him." Riza said.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Have a bodyguard that's allowed to help you."

"Like who?" Roy asked, as Annie looked pissed at what Riza had said.

"Me sir."

Roy couldn't believe it. '_She wants to be by my side. Does she think she is better than Annie? No. She's . . . jealous!' _Roy burst out laughing. He was so relieved. He was foolish to think she didn't love him.

Annie looked ready to snap, thinking she was being laughed at.

"Why you?" Roy asked, calming down once again.

"Because its my duty." Riza replied

"I don't think it makes much of a difference. Annie's not allowed to hit him and you . . . well, can't." Roy said, and at this Annie smiled smugly. "But you are raise a good point. Its your duty to watch my back. My paperwork must be piling up and Annie can't do it for me. It would make me look bad if problems were to arise from my undone paperwork."

Riza was hurt, but he was right. She couldn't hit the alchemist and that frustrated her. "Yes sir." She left, angry.

…

She split the work between herself and Havoc at work the next day and they worked late for three nights to get Roy caught up on his paperwork. Rebecca visited her after work the evening she was no longer working late.

"So how did your talk with Roy go?"

"Terrible. He laughed when I suggested I be his bodyguard. He pointed out I'd be unless at the job and that I get his paperwork done instead!" Riza clenched her fist, then unclenched them. _'I'm done with him. I'm tired of being treated poorly. Let Annie have him. I don't want him.'_

Rebecca was sympathetic and tried to cheer Riza up, but left unsuccessful.

…

Roy had lost the happiness he had had from being with Annie, but he was happy again now that he knew Riza still loved him. He couldn't wait for her to visit him again. He knew no matter how busy she was she'd find a way to visit him. Then four days went by with no sign of her. _'I shouldn't have dumped all my paperwork on her. She must be angry.'_

…

Havoc relaxed in his chair, smoking a cigarette. "Where should I go when I use my vacation days?" He wondered aloud. Because he and Riza had worked overtime, under Amestrian law, they had earned day offs.

Working one day overtime, earned you one day off. Two days straight got you three days off. Three days earned you a week off. vacation days could be used whenever without ever expiring, but Havoc wanted to use his as soon as possible.

"I want to go somewhere fun. I don't know. What are you going to use your vacation days for lieutenant?" Havoc asked Hawkeye.

"I don't know. I won't use them for awhile."

"Yeah. Maybe I should save them up." Havoc scratched his chin.

…

**Slow ending… the next will be fun. Yet another new OC that'll be a CO and since he's an OC he can't be OOC. He'll love COCO, but hate COCONUTS. He'll be a OC CO and not OOC eats COCO and not COCONUTS.** **Review if you want me to stop this madness.**


	7. Who is in Charge

People, FFF, for once I'm going to say I don't want reviews. At least not ones telling me my grammar sucks.

**Also, just because you have a pair of cosplay flame alchemy gloves doesn't mean you can put them on and blow up trees that ate your tennis balls. I would know. **

…

Riza saw Roy after work. "Sir, your paperwork is caught up now and Havoc and I are continuing to get it done for you until your return." She informed him.

Roy nodded. _'Where has she been?' _He wondered. "Are you mad at me?"

"I made sure your paperwork got done sir. I apologize if it kept me from reporting to you sooner, but it is more important that I get the work done."

"You are mad at me." Roy said simply. It was clear to him by what she had just said. "What did I do this time?"

Riza sighed, then left.

'_Son of a bitch.'_ Roy tried to get up, but Annie put a hand on him to stop him.

"Please don't try to get up." She said.

Roy laid back down, wondering what Riza's problem was. He decided whatever it was, he was going to make it up to her.

…

The next day, Annie went into the office and went up to Riza. "Here, its an order from Roy." She said, handing her a folded piece of paper.

Riza looked up in surprise, then took it. It was an order that Riza was to be in charge of Eastern Command with a temporary rank of Lt. Colonel and to cancel all of Roy's paperwork until Roy could return to duty. "What?!" Riza couldn't help but exclaim as she read.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"The General has put me in charge until he can return to duty."

"In charge of the eastern HQ's." At that Maria looked surprised.

"Can he do that?" Denny asked.

"Yes, but only because he is in charge of the eastern area." Havoc replied.

Riza was working out what to do, when Havoc interrupted her thoughts. "Don't forget. You might run into trouble with Schultz."

…

Lt. Colonel Schultz was the second highest ranking officer in the eastern army. There was a shortage of generals thanks to the Promised Day. In Schultz's case, he accepted to replace a general's open spot, so long as he kept his rank as Lt. Colonel. It was because of that request that he worked in the East and not at Central, for most generals were sent there. Schultz had thought that a higher rank meant more paperwork, but he still ended up with a lot. Schultz hated his job as much as he took pride in it, so when he heard a lieutenant was being put in charge during General Mustang's injury leave, he was less than pleased. He called Hawkeye into his office the next day and she appeared a few minutes later. "Oh joy. So you're the lieutenant Mustang thought he could put in charge? You do realize sleeping with your superior officer is against Fraternization Laws?" He said annoyed.

Riza's frustration and anger boiled over and for once, got the better of her. "Sleeping-? I would never sleep with the General!" She managed to calm down somewhat before going on. "Listen, I don't know why he chose me anymore than you. You have no right to accuse me of such a thing."

"Mmm-hmm." Schultz grumbled, not believing her. "If you think one letter can put you in charge, _lieutenant,_ you're wrong. I'm in charge here and don't you think for a moment that you can _persuade _me otherwise."

"The letter didn't put me in charge. The General did."

"I'm having my assistant look up Amestrian military law. He'll find I'm rightfully in charge."

Riza found that hard to believe. If Roy had wanted her in charge, he would've been sure to do it right.

A moment later, a nervous looking sergeant entered the room with a bunch of files under one arm.

"What did you find out?" Schultz asked.

"Well . . ."

"You're kidding me right?"

"She's only in charge of Eastern HQ's. You're in charge of the Eastern area."

"So I still outrank her?"

Yes . . . and no. You can both overrule each other's orders concerning HQ's"

Schultz sighed. "Dismissed sergeant." The sergeant left and Schultz rubbed his forehead. _'I can't believe this.' _

Riza debated her options before speaking. "Well, we can work together or fight eachother. I'd prefer it if we worked together."

"I guess so. I'll move my stuff over to Mustang's desk so that decisions can be made faster."

Riza nodded.

It wasn't long before Schultz was settled in. He found himself watching Hawkeye work. Compared to the others in the room, she was real officer material. Why she was still a lieutenant was a little beyond him. _'She's stubborn, but that's good in an officer. Maybe its her control over her emotions or lack thereof. It could just be Mustang is holding her back.' _He thought.

Riza liked it better to have someone in charge with her. She felt she could relax a little.

…

The next day when Schultz walked by Hawkeye's desk, he paused. "Why are you here?" He asked, curious.

"I'm here to help the General." She answered.

"Hmm. Not too many soldiers are here to help their superiors."

"Well, I am." Riza realized too late that she had answered incorrectly. Helping Roy may have been part of it, but not anymore.

Later when it was just the two of them in the office, Riza asked her own question. "Lt. Colonel Schultz, why did you turn down a promotion?" She knew about his situation because of her gossipy friend, Rebecca.

"Because I don't want to be in charge of more men, more work, and more problems. The higher the rank you are the more people look up to you." He shook his head. "I don't like what I do, but I do it to make sure others don't. So I don't have any right to whine about."

Riza was startled by his answer. The main reason she was here was to make sure others didn't end up with her job as well. She saw he wasn't such a bad person after all.

…

Roy missed Riza. She haunted his dreams and thoughts. He still had no clue as to why she was mad at him. Two weeks had past since he had last seen her. He had one major goal he was set on at this moment; get out of the hospital and find out why Riza is angry with him.

…

One night after work, before anyone could leave, Schultz invited them all to join him at a bar. Once there everyone split up, except Maria and Denny, who stayed together.

Ralph was at the bar that night and saw Riza sipping a beer alone. _'Its that bitch.' _He thought unable to remember her name and went up to her. "Hey, what a nice surprise to see you here. Did you miss me?" She ignored him, so Ralph slammed his hands on the table. "Hey!"

"Leave me alone." Riza said firmly with a glare.

"Why are you here if your not looking for me?"

"I'm with friends."

Ralph made a show of looking around. "I don't see them."

"They're . . . around." Riza said, knowing her side of the argument sounded weak now.

Ralph touched her face. "Come on. You know-"

Riza moved away from his touch. "Don't touch me."

Ralph slapped her.

Schultz had seen enough. He jumped up from his stool and grabbed Ralph's shoulder from behind. "You know, you really shouldn't hit woman."

"Why do you care?" Ralph said turning around.

"She doesn't want you near her and frankly, neither do I. So why don't you just leave?"

Ralph tried to shove past Schultz as he left, but the man was like a wall, so he left, squeezing around him, before he could be further humiliated.

Riza was relieved. "Thank you."

"No problem. I've dealt with worse." He said sitting down across from her.

Riza found herself admiring him. The way he had chased off Ralph was more than Roy had ever done for her.

…

Schultz's car came to a stop. He had already dropped the others off and it was just him and Riza. "Thank you, for everything." Schultz smiled. "If you ever need anything, anything at all. . ." He got out of the car, went around, and opened the door for her. ". . . don't hesitate to come to me."

She smiled and stepped out of the car. "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course."

Riza hugged him, then pulled away quickly before she kissed him, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. Its just . . .I needed that."

Schultz grinned. "Its okay. I did say anything."

She looked away, blushing.

Suddenly Schultz frowned and headed back for the driver's seat. "I should get going."

"Wait." She went after him and touched his arm. Riza didn't want to spend another night alone. She needed someone to hold her and love her. "Schultz, I need you."

He wanted to turn her down, but he had already given her his word that he would be there for her. "What is it?"

"Could you spend the night with me? You don't have to." She added quickly.

He rubbed his hand against her cheek. "I guess I could stay awhile."

Riza gave him another hug. "Thank you."

…

Cast; Lt. Colonel Thomas Schultz, EW.

**A little more about Schultz; FFF loved this OC of mine. When he returned home from Ishbal he found that his wife had left him and taken his two daughters with her. Leaving him a ghost of a man. Which is why he thanked Riza. She made him feel alive again.**

**Damn Riza! You made every guy's dream come true with that, 'If you need anything at all, come to me.' What do you say? 'You wanna do it?' **


	8. Love Under Watch

The last chapter was very misleading. I did not cut away because a sexual frustrated and desperate Riza had given her virginity to a guy she knew for two weeks. And yes. FFF and I both agree she is a virgin. How could she sleep with someone with her back?

**I saw the first two episodes to the original anime, and I hated almost every second of it. **

**Disclaimer; The Rebound Alchemist is not a basketball player. Man's got no skills!**

…

But once inside her apartment, Riza started feeling unsure about this. "Would you like to sit down?"

Schultz sat down on the couch. "Nice place you've got here." 'It's a hell of a lot better than mine.' He thought as Riza sat down next to him.

"Thank you. You're a very nice guy." She took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. But it didn't feel right. It was too awkward and there was no love. She could tell he wanted to be somewhere else. So she said something she thought would scare him away and ruin it all. "You should know, I've never done this before."

For something that sounded sexy Schultz noticed that she meant it as a bad thing. '_She really hasn't done this before.' _"We shouldn't do this." He said softly at her desperation turning from longing for him to longing for loneliness. "We work together and we don't even know much about each other. I'm sorry." He stood up.

"No, I'm sorry." Riza folded her hands in her lap and looked down. Her wall was back up. Her moment of weakness gone. "It would've only caused trouble and I knew it. I've done nothing right with my life and I have no right to ruin others. You should take back what you said about being there for me and leave."

Schultz smiled softly. "You would have to try really hard to screw up my life more than it already is. And no, I won't take it back. Its too late for that." With that he left.

Riza was yet again alone. Her wall came back down and she cried.

…

She acted as if nothing happened at work, then she went to the hospital to visit Roy, only to find he had been released earlier that day. She walked home, her head down. _'Why did he have to fall in love with Annie?'_

…

Roy found it funny how much he had missed work. What he didn't find funny was how much he missed Riza. With his car destroyed, Roy had gone out to get a new one, but bought a dark red motorcycle instead. When he returned home, Annie was there to greet him.

"I hoped you had fun." She said.

"Plenty." He replied, stepping inside and closing the door.

Annie slipped her arms around him and kissed him.

Roy put his arms around her and kissed her back, wondering what he did to deserve this.

Annie broke the kiss and slipped her fingers into his pants. "You want to have more fun?" She whispered into his ear.

Roy gently pushed her away. "No, I . . . no." _'I'm not going to give her any false hope, we're never going to have sex. I should never gotten with her in the first place, damn me.' _He thought. Why did he have to see Riza in her?

"Come on Roy, please?" She begged.

Roy sighed, shook his head and walked past her.

Annie stomped her foot, annoyed.

…

Two days later, Schultz's sergeant was walking out of the office with a couple of boxes of Schultz's stuff. He was moving back into his office after hearing Roy would be back soon.

Alone with Riza, Schultz turned to her as he finished putting Roy's desk back to how it was. "You asked me why I would turn down a promotion, but doesn't it bother you that you've been blocked for a promotion eight times?"

She hadn't known that. _'How does he know? Did he look into my personal file?' _"If I received a promotion, I couldn't serve as the General's assistant."

"Spoken like a loyal soldier. We need more lieutenants like you." Schultz saluted her before leaving.

Riza blinked in surprise, then smiled a little and sat at her desk.

Roy came in and strolled pass her desk a moment later. "Morning Lieutenant."

"Good morning sir." She said looking up. Seeing him, she realized how much she had missed him.

"I hope my letter didn't cause you any trouble." He said after sitting at his desk.

"The lieutenant colonel had a problem with it, but we worked it out."

Roy nodded. "So everything is alright now?"

The question couldn't be about work and that was the only thing going okay. "No sir."

"Come on lieutenant. You can't stay mad at me forever. What did I do that upset you so much?"

"Well, for one sir, I didn't know you found the idea of me being your bodyguard so funny."

"What are you talking about? If I thought the idea of you being my bodyguard was so funny, you wouldn't be my bodyguard." Roy said, confused.

"Well, I'm not am I? You had me do your paperwork instead after laughing at me."

"I don't know what you mean. I _never _laughed at you."

She glared at him. "You don't remember that day in the hospital?"

Roy thought for a long moment. "_Ooooh._ I didn't laugh at you. I laughed at myself for thinking you didn't love me." He realized that he had just told her he loved her in what was arguably the worst way possible. He tried to make it better at once. "I love you Riza, and for the past two weeks I was afraid I was losing you." He looked down sadly to hopefully seal the deal.

Denny peaked his head through the doorway a little to see Riza reaction, only to be pulled back by Havoc. "Don't blow our cover!" He whispered warningly.

Riza found it hard to believe. "You certainly had me fooled sir." She said softly. "Especially with how close you and Annie are. I'm surprised she's not with you now."

Roy got up and walked to the front of her desk. "I couldn't choose between you and Annie, because Annie isn't a choice. Its you. Its always been you. Its been you for years."

"Aww. . ." Denny said softly.

"Come on already." Havoc said, waiting for the big kiss.

"She can't turn him down after that." Maria whispered.

Riza got up. "Then why? Why are you with her?"

"Because it is the only way I know to make it go away." Roy said sadly.

She knew what he meant. The loneliness. She went around her desk and put her arms around him. "I love you too."

Roy placed a hand on the side of her face. He had longed for her to say that, to feel her smooth skin, and . . . to kiss her for so long and now . . .

Roy leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

She kissed him back.

"Are they kissing?" Maria asked quietly, having not heard them speak in awhile.

Havoc nodded.

"What are you all doing?" Schultz's sergeant asked from behind Maria.

They all jumped in surprise, but then Havoc quickly got in the man's face. "And what are you doing here?"

"I think I asked you tha-"

"I don't care. I outrank you sergeant and I want you out of my sight."

"I should kick your ass."

They stared at each other for a moment, then the sergeant turned and left.

'_That was too close.' _Havoc sighed.

Roy pulled his lips away from Riza's and smiled. "I've waited too long for that."

Riza pulled away from him. "We shouldn't have done that. Someone could've seen us." She glanced at the doorway nervously.

Roy gently turned her face back to him as he stepped towards her. "For some reason, at this moment . . . I don't care." He kissed her again with more passion this time.

Riza's arms found their way back around him and held him tightly as Roy's hand moved into her hair, his other around her waist. She moaned softly as she kissed him, reveling in his touch. Her hands moved up to run though his sleek black hair.

Roy had never heard, let alone felt, her make such a . . . sexy sound before and it turned him on even more. He pushed his tongue into her mouth and kissed her so deeply, he almost loss his balance.

"Its getting pretty steamy in there." Havoc whispered to Maria.

"Should we leave?" She whispered back while in the office, Riza gasped in surprise and grabbed handfuls of Roy's hair.

His hands ran up and down her backside, but he couldn't get a feel for her figure. _'Damn uniforms. Why are there so many layers?' _

Riza broke the kiss. "Roy, Roy." She whispered. "Wait. The others could be here any minute and we have work to do."

Roy's fingers played with her hair. "Alright. I can wait. Its all I've ever done." He said, breathing a little heavily and went back to his desk.

"Do we go in now or wait?" Maria asked.

"Give it a minute or two, then you and Denny go in. I'll enter three minutes after you." Havoc said and Denny nodded. "Oh, and Denny, you owe me two hundred cenz."

"That's the last time I bet _against _love." Denny grumbled.

…

**Wow**. **Riza's getting around. Next chapter she beds Havoc and does Denny in the office.** **Not.**

**Next chapter. Schultz covers his ass and tells Roy that Riza tried to sleep with him. Sorry that that sucks. It was the only way I could think of that Roy finds out about that. Please don't hate Schultz for my stupidity. I straight up used him. **

**Wasn't there a Rebound Alchemist?**


	9. A Ring For Cheating

Everyone hates Annie for getting with Roy, But loves Schultz when he got with Riza. I'm guessing its because Schultz has a sad back story. So Annie's parents die when she was young and she was in a abusive relationship as a teen. There. Now if you like her you are a sucker for a sad story.

**Review please.**

**Disclaimer; I may be Ew, but I'm not that gross.**

…

Roy was sitting at a table by himself, eatting lunch and thinking of things he could do to Riza at work that'd drive her crazy, in a good way, when Schultz sat down across from him.

"I wasn't too happy when you put Lt. Hawkeye in charge at first, but I soon found out why. She's a hard worker. Really knows what she is doing."

Roy nodded. "That's why I chose her."

"Yes, she's the perfect lieutenant. Maybe a little under-ranked, but . . ." Schultz trailed off.

"What?"

"Well . . . she wanted me to come into her apartment and when I did, she wanted me to sleep with her."

"What?"

"She really wanted me to, but I refused. If I didn't work in the military thought, I totally wou-"

"How dare you!" Roy stood up. "You can't just come up to me and tell me lies about my lieutenant!"

"Ask her yourself." Schultz said calmly.

'_S-she couldn't have.' _Roy quickly walked back to the office. "Everybody out, except for Hawkeye!" He ordered. Maria, Denny, and Havoc obeyed and when the door shut behind them, Roy glared at Riza.

Riza looked at in him surprise, confused. "Is something wrong sir?"

"You tell me lieutenant. Schultz told me something, would you care to explain it?"

"If you're upset that he had been working at your desk, we had that arranged so work would be more efficient since we were both in charge." She said

"Close. It was that you tried to sleep with him."

Riza stared at him, staying perfectly still, except for her heart which pounded in her chest. Schultz had done the right thing by telling Roy, but it may have just ruined her life. "Sir." She said after a painful moment of silence. "You have to understand. I thought you didn't love me. I was so lonely and I was tired of it. I needed someone and . . .he was right there."

Roy shook his head. "You should've just asked me if I loved you like I wanted to ask you, but as I recall, I was stuck in the hospital while you tired to get a man to sleep with you. Sleeping with Schultz is fine, but kissing me is crossing the line?" Roy said hurt.

"No! Sir no. That's not it. I don't want you to lose your job because of me. Not when you're so close to becoming fuhrer. I care too much about you to do that to you." She realized she said the wrong thing. If she cared so much she wouldn't have tried to sleep with Schultz. "I'm sorry sir." Riza said, looking away.

"Yeah, me too." Roy said angrily, then left.

…

Two days later, Roy went to Riza's apartment after work and knocked on the door. He knew he should be mad at her, but after one day of ignoring her, he began to miss her. He wanted to forgive her, but he didn't know if there had been anyone else she had tried to, or had, sleep with.

The door opened. "Yes sir?"

"I want to talk with you lieutenant. Are you busy?"

"No. Come in." Riza said, stepping aside.

He sat on her couch as she closed the door. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, so . . . was there anyone else besides Schultz that you did anything with that I should know about?"

She knew he had the right to ask that question. "No sir. Schultz was the only one."

"What about Ralph?"

"I only dated him to make you jealous and I regret doing that very much. The most that happened was that he kissed me."

"Well, then, I don't regret beating his face in." Roy laughed.

"You did that? If only I had known." Riza said, sitting by him.

Roy looked at her curiously. "What?"

"I would've known I had made you jealous."

"I wasn't jealous. I beat him up because he was an asshole. I didn't want you dating him."

"You don't want me to date anyone sir, except you."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I get jealous." Roy replied.

Riza only smiled.

"You make it impossible for me to stay mad at you." He said, brushing a hand against her cheek. It was a feel he could never tire of. He smiled back. "I love that smile of yours."

"R-really?" Riza blushed. It had been a long time since he had seen her blush. Way back when they were teens, it had been.

Roy kissed her. "I love everything about you Riza."

"I love you too sir."

"Sir?"

"Roy then." She put a hand onto the side of his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

Roy kissed her again, longer this time.

…

Roy didn't go home that night and had to hurry to work when morning came. When he went home afterwards, Annie greeted him with a slap.

"Where the hell have you been?" She yelled. "You've been gone for over a day! I was worried sick!"

"I was on an important mission." Roy lied.

"And you didn't call me?"

"It was important."

"How so?"

"I can't tell you. Its top secret. I've already told you too much."

"Well you better start my lessons again soon." Annie walked away, grumbling about what a crummy liar he was.

Roy rubbed his cheek. "Ow."

…

Roy's trust in Riza had faded, but he had an idea to keep guys off her and knew Riza would love. He did a quick transmutation before he left for work. Once there he put his little creation in an envelope with a note, then put it on Riza's desk before he went to his own.

When Riza came in and sat at her desk, the envelope was the first thing she got to since it was on top of her other paperwork. She was surprised when she felt something other than paper in it, but Riza took only the note out to read it, before she put it back. It had read.

_**Please put this on.**_

_**\ It is a symbol of my undying love for you.**_

_**A reminder that I'll always love you no matter**_

_**What, that I hope you will never be without it.**_

_**Not only that, but it is a promise that you are**_

_**The only person in my heart and that one day**_

_**We will be truly, openly, and faithfully together.**_

_**Love, Roy Mustang.**_

Riza pocketed the envelope, knowing now that there was a ring inside it. How can he expect her to wear it? There'd be too many questions. When it was just her and Roy in the office, she took the envelope back out and, unable to resist, took the ring out to at least see what it looked like.

It had thirteen diamonds, six small ones in rows of two by three flanked one large diamond in the middle. The band was platinum and clearly looked too big to be put on any of her fingers.

Riza's silence was killing Roy, he didn't know if she was deeply touched by the gift or rejecting it. Maybe she was waiting for him to leave so that she can politely throw it away. He wouldn't blame her if she did. _'Just say something already!' _He thought, but she didn't, so he quickly got up and headed for the door.

Riza stood. "Roy, wait."

As if he were Black Hayate, he paused and glanced at her. "What is it?" He said a little hesitantly.

She went up to him. "It- it . . . I . . ." At a loss for words, Riza hugged him.

Relieved, Roy hugged her back awkwardly since his hands were pinned to his sides

She gave him a kiss before pulling away. "Its beautiful sir, thank you. I'll keep it on me at all times."

Roy smiled. He had never done something like this before and was glad it had worked. "Do you need me to adjust the size for you?"

"Yes sir." She said, then hesitated before going on. "I . . . I don't know if I should be putting this on a certain finger though, if it is meant for it. You understand."

"Well . . ." Roy started as he took the ring and put it on said finger. He clapped his hands, then put one hand over and the other below her hand. There was a bright flash of light and Roy removed his hands to reveal the ring. It's band was thicker, but it fitted her perfectly now. ". . . that's up to you to decided." He finished.

Riza looked at him. "There's going to be a party in the lobby of the apartment complex where I live at. I am allowed to bring a friend, so you can come with me if you want to."

"I can't. You said friend right? I'm sure Rebecca would love to go." Roy said, thinking that the ring was a big risk. The party would only add to that.

Riza nodded understandingly. "I better go home. Goodnight sir." Riza left the office and when she did, she moved the ring to her other hand.

…

**First, please review. Next, Rebound guy has been gone for awhile. This is because his face was burned off, and that takes an understandable amount time to heal, but let me just say this guy is a party crasher, or is he?** __


	10. Birthday Wish, Help!

**Thanks for (all) the review(s) (everyone). I feel loved.**

**Disclaimer; (guy from Hogan's Heroes) I know nothing! **

**I also don't own Hogan's Heroes, if I did, I would know that guy's name.**

…

"Nice ring! Those are a lot of diamonds. Who gave you that?" Rebecca said, marveling over the ring on Riza's finger as she sat by her at lunch.

"It was my mother's. I only recently had it fitted." Riza lied.

"Is that platinum?"

Riza looked confused.

"Yes, I think that it is." Rebecca answered her own question.

Maria Ross came over, drawn by the commotion. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Check out Riza's ring! It has a platinum band!"

"Platinum? That's really expensive. Who gave it to you?" Maria asked Riza.

"It was my mother's." She repeated as Maria sat down, looking closely at the ring.

"Thirteen diamonds too! Wow." Maria said.

"Aren't most rings like this?" Riza asked, not liking all the attention the ring was getting.

Maria and Rebecca laughed. "Well, apparently you don't know much about rings, but I can't blame you. The only jewelry I've seen you wear are those earrings you've always been wearing. You don't go to jewelry stores often, do you?" Rebecca said.

"No. I see no reason to." Riza defended herself. "I prefer to spend my time perfecting my aim." She added, knowing her near perfect aim bothered Rebecca.

"Well, it's a very beautiful ring." Maria said.

…

Roy had only been joking when said he wasn't going to go to the party. He had wanted to go with Riza, but instead of explaining that to Riza, he would just go with Annie.

…

After work, Riza returned to her apartment, admiring the ring on her finger before opening the door. She slipped inside, turning on the light and then abruptly froze in shock to see the Rebound Alchemist in her living room.

He was sitting on the couch, Hayate on his lap whimpering as Rebound looked up at Riza. His face was covered in burn scars. "Now, now." He said as she quickly grabbed her gun. "You know that won't work and we don't want anyone to get hurt. Yet." Rebound went on, gripping Hayate's scuff roughly. "Now why don't you just put that down?"

Riza's heart pounded in her chest as she put her gun down. "Why are you here?"

"To tell you that you're going to kill Mustang for me." He said with a grin.

"What makes you think I'd do that for you?"

"I am hosting a party tomorrow and I'm expecting it to have an explosive ending, unless you kill Roy. So its up to you. Does one man die or do hundreds die?"

Riza stared at him, horrified. She thought of all those innocent people, then Roy. Her heart clenched in pain and she bowed her head, then lifted it. "I . . . I see I have no choice then."

"Good. You have twenty-four hours to kill him. And don't try to warn him. I have a guy on the inside who will let me know if you do. And if you do . . . boom. Don't believe me? I like your ring. Roy must've spent a lot of money on it." He tossed Hayate aside and left her apartment.

…

Riza sat at her desk. She was the first one in the office today, but she didn't feel like doing any paperwork today. A folded note was in her hand. The note explained what was going on. She wasn't sure if Rebound did have an inside man, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Riza would've called Roy, but feared Rebound might have tapped her phone. The door opened and Riza jumped a little in her seat, startled out of her thoughts.

"Hello Lt. Hawkeye."

"2nd Lt. Ross, here." Riza replied, handing Maria the note as she came over.

"What is this?" Maria asked.

"It's a list of demands for my up coming birthday. I didn't get anything good last year. Be sure everyone else in the office sees it too."

Maria was confused. This seemed unlike Hawkeye. She would've thought Hawkeye would demand there be no celebration of her birthday at the office, but she opened it and read. Her eyes went big and she wanted to say something, but the note had warned her not to, because someone might be working for Rebound on the inside. "Okay." She said, forcing herself to calm down and took a seat.

Denny came in next, followed by Havoc. Shortly after, Schultz's sergeant came in. He didn't greet anyone, he just sat in a chair in front of Roy's desk.

Riza looked up, watching him. _'Is this Rebound's inside man keeping an eye on things? Is Schultz involved too?'_ She wondered, hating herself for inviting him into her apartment, it would explain how Rebound knew where she lived.

"Here Havoc, you should read this." Maria said, handing him the note. She noticed Schultz's sergeant too late.

Havoc took it and read through it. _'Oh shit.' _He thought, but kept his cool. "So what can I do about it?" He asked, handing it back.

"Some advise would be nice." Maria mumbled, taking it and wondering how to get it to Roy without raising suspicion.

"Morning." Roy said simply as he entered the office just then.

"Morning sir." Riza said without looking up.

"General." Maria said, abruptly getting up and intercepting Roy on his way to his desk. She held out the note towards him. "Someone . . ." Maria glanced at Riza, then looked back at Roy as she went on. ". . . has a birthday coming up and made a wish list. You should take a look."

Roy glanced at Riza before reaching out to take the note, only to stop just short. "I already kno- . . . I'm far too busy with work for anything like that right now. As you have most likely noticed, someone is waiting for me at my desk. You can show me your list later." Roy walked around her and sat at his desk. Schultz's sergeant immediately started whispering to him.

…

An hour later, Roy was still talking with the man, so Havoc took the note from Maria and went up to Roy. He whispered something into his ear while handing him the note under the desk.

Roy quickly took it and Havoc walked back to his seat. After reading it, Roy crushed the note, then he turned back to the sergeant and started on his work as they talked quietly. Some time passed before Schultz's sergeant left with a folder.

Everyone looked at each other, except Roy, who kept working.

"What's wrong?" Denny asked, confused.

"Nothing Denny. Get back to work." Havoc told him.

…

There was one hour left in the work day and two left till the party. Only two people were cool and level-headed in the office; Roy and Denny.

Three MPs walked through the door and went up to Hawkeye's desk. "We're going to need you to come with us." One said. "Your sidearms please." A second requested.

Roy looked up now at Riza.

Riza looked up at the MPs, then stood and reached behind her, taking her 45. Out of it's holster and handing it over. Riza reached into her coat next, pulling out her other 45. And her six shooter, handing those over too.

Maria watched this, concerned.

"What's this about?" Roy asked.

"First Lt. Riza Hawkeye is being arrested with the charge of conspiring to kill your superior officer." The first MP explained.

"That's insane! I demand you to release her immediately!" Roy stood up.

"Sorry General, but you have no say in this." An MP said, grabbing Riza's arm to lead her away.

"I said release her." Roy said darkly, opening the drawer where he kept his gloves.

"General, please don't." Riza said, looking at him.

"Lieutenant, I'm not going to just sit here and wait . . ." Roy trailed off and hung his head in defeat and Riza was led out of the room, but away from the holding cells.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked, but the MPs were silent. "Don't I have to talk to someone? You can't just decided I was going to kill my superior officer."

"Quiet you." One of them said and shoved her.

Riza was quiet then. It wasn't long before she was pushed into an office where Schultz and his sergeant were waiting.

The MPs gave the Sergeant Riza's guns, then left, closing the door behind them.

Riza didn't understand. She still had time. Or did they decide she wasn't going to follow through? She would make a run for it, except there was no chance of her getting away.

…

**OH NO! Poor Riza! Who will save the day? Can you , the reader, guess?**


	11. Classic Roy

**Well, its time for another anticlimactic end to a cliffhanger. **

…

The sergeant went up to her and gave Riza her guns back. "Sorry about that, it wasn't my idea." He said.

"It was Roy's."Schultz added.

Riza looked surprised as she took her guns. "The General's?"

Schultz nodded. "He wrote down instructions in a folder and gave it to Sherman who was there to talk with him about the ideas I had about dealing with Rebound when he returns."

'_Well, if Roy trusts them. . .' _Riza thought.

"Well, we can just sit here and stare at each other or we can go back up Mustang. Sergeant, you stay here. Hawkeye and I are going to change and go to her apartment." Schultz said.

Sherman grinned and held back a laugh.

"What? . . ." Schultz realized that what he had said could be taken differently and sighed, annoyed. "Screw you." He muttered before leaving the room.

Riza followed him out. "You know what's going on then?"

"Yes. Do you have a change of clothes in your locker?" Schultz asked, heading towards the locker rooms.

"No."

"We'll have to find you a change of pants at least."

Riza wasn't sure what to say to that, so she said nothing at all.

…

After the MPs left with Riza, Roy waited a moment before leaving the office, going into the locker room to change. _'I hope my plan works. I'll have to move quickly.' _He thought. Luckily, he had put his tuxedo for the party in his locker. He needed to change out of his uniform if he was going to the party to hunt down Rebound, because if Rebound knew he was there, he would just blow up the apartment building no matter what.

After changing, he drove his motorcycle down to Riza's apartment. Once he was there, he dismounted and went into the lobby, deciding he'd meet up with Schultz and Riza later and have them investigate the surrounding buildings. He walked into the lobby and almost immediately ran into Annie. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"You invited me to come here with you. You were late, as usual, so I came without you."

"Well, you look nice."

"Oh, really? Thank you." She blushed and straightened out her long, green dress.

Roy decided not to alert her to the danger, figuring she would panic. "How about that guy who funded all of this? Have you heard about him?" He asked.

"I heard he was here earlier today, but that he couldn't stay for the party as something had come up. I think it had to do with his family. Someone else said they saw him go down to the basement for a short while. They knew it was him because of the burn scars on his face." She replied.

Change of plans. "Come with me."

"Okay." Annie said slowly as Roy grabbed her and led her away. He quickly found the door to the basement. "What's going on?"

"If I'm right, you'll find out in a moment." He told her.

They went down the stairs and into the open space of the basement, except for some support pillars. "What are we looking for?" Annie asked.

Roy went up to one of the pillars and looked around it. "These."

Annie came over and saw a bomb strapped to the pillar. "W-what – who – why . . ." She stammered.

Roy clapped his hands and turned the bomb into a clock, then he slipped on his gloves. "Start disarming the bombs like I did and I'll make sure they don't explode while you do so."

It took a moment, but Annie jumped into action. She pulled out a piece of chalk she always kept on her and started drawing transmutation circles around each bomb, before turning them into something harmless. While Roy watched. Keeping the air away from each bomb so there could be no spark to set the bomb off.

When they got every bomb, they headed back upstairs to the lobby. "For once I'm the hero and on one even knows it." Roy said.

"Hey! What about me?" Annie demanded.

". . . I'm going to wait for Riza to show up to tell her her problem has been solved." Roy started to walk away from her, then paused and looked back. "Good job Annie."

"I didn't know there was something wrong until you showed up." She said, humble now.

"Don't short string yourself." Roy said with a laugh and went outside to wait. A man offered him a smoke and although he never really smoked in a long time, he accepted it, thinking he deserved it and needed one. Roy unbuttoned his jacket, undid his bow tie, and leaned against the wall by himself, relaxing.

…

It had taken awhile to find Riza some non-military issued pants, but finally they pulled up to the building in Schultz's car. They got out and walked over. Neither looked like they were dressed for a party. Riza had her black turtle neck on.

"What the fuck?" Schultz said when he saw Roy outside the building.

Riza reached Roy first. "Since when do you smoke?" She asked him.

Roy raised an eyebrow at her. "I smoke on rare occasions." He looked her up and down. "I hope that's not what you're wearing to the party. Then again, it matches your date." He added as Schultz joined them.

"Isn't there a terrorist we're suppose to be looking for?" Schultz pointed out.

"Oh shit! I completely forgot!" Roy spat out his cigarette. "No, wait. That's right. I already took care of that." He added coolly as he rubbed his chin, smirking.

"You . . . took care of him? By yourself?" Riza didn't believe this.

"Yes- well, no. One; he wasn't here. Two; Annie helped me." Roy said, then explained, before finishing by saying, "You should have more faith in me lieutenant or at least try to sound less surprised."

"Yes sir." Riza replied.

Roy buttoned up his jacket and fixed his bow tie. "Well, I shouldn't keep Annie waiting. You two go ahead inside and join the party."

'_Don't believe this.' _Schultz thought and looked at Riza. "Is this how he normally acts?"

"Yes. It is." She said with a sigh. It was more of a sigh relief though. Everything was fine, for now. In the lobby which was where the party was taking place, Riza kept to herself and didn't really mingle with anyone.

"So how far back do you two go?" Schultz asked her with a glance at Roy.

"Way back. My father taught him alchemy."

"You two are luck to have ended up together then."

"I suppose so."

"Sergeant Sherman is the only man on my team that I've know during the Ishbal war. He's my closest friend."

"It's the same with me and the General." Riza replied.

"He's certainly . . . different from my sergeant, that's for sure. I just can't name it." He said, watching Roy for a moment. "Guess its just their personalities. Now those are worlds apart." He chuckled slightly.

…

Roy took his time in finding his way back to Annie. "Annie, I think we should break up."

"Oh thank God."

"Wha- What?"

"I completely agree. In fact I planned to break up with you when we got home." Annie laughed, relieved.

Roy joined in half-heartedly and awkwardly. "I just want to focus on teaching you." He said.

"Exactly! Me too!" Annie sighed, even more relieved.

"Yeah." Roy scratched the back of his head and walked away.

…

Riza went up to the front desk where the lobbyist and a hired bartender handed out drinks. She ordered a glass of water. It'd give her something to do instead of just standing in an awkward silence with Schultz. The lobbyist made a comment about how awful Riza looked in the outfit she wore, but Riza shrugged it off and walked away, knowing Roy would most likely come over there and she didn't want to catch him at his womanizing ways.

But she didn't have to worry. Roy avoided Riza and was in the opposite side of the room, talking with a bunch of young women whose attention he had attracted. He had immediately slipped out that he was single. _'Well, it is true in a way. What am I talking about?! No I'm not. I'm with Riza. She is all I'll ever need.' _He thought, but stayed with the women, enjoying himself.

Riza, however, noticed the group of women and started to wonder over, curious about what was going on. Then she saw Roy and stopped in her tracks. She would've felt better if he was talking to a girl one-on-one, but she just rolled her eyes and scoffed, turning away and walking off. Riza tried not to blame him. He had to act like he was his usual self after all. She stopped and sipped her drink. She wished now more than ever that she was wearing something else, something that'd attract men's attention, Roy's in particular. Maybe then he'd think twice before acting like he didn't care around her.

"Are you alright?" Schultz asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You look like, and are acting like, my sergeant when I've done something stupid. And I'm pretty bad at what I did to cause it."

Riza jumped a bit, almost spilling her drink all over herself. She hadn't realized Schultz had been following her. She turned to him. "Oh, no. You didn't do anything. It's the General. I expected him to act better, but I should've known better. I just feel bad for his current girlfriend." She said.

"You shouldn't feel bad. She'll end up dumping him or he'll dump her, either way he'll move on to some other girl; rinse and repeat. Such is the mating cycle of Roy Mustang, or so I've heard."

Riza laughed at that and found she felt a little better. "There is a lot of truth in that." She agreed.

Schultz laughed as well, then removed his hand from her shoulder when he realized he had left it there. He smiled and shook his head. _'Its sad to think that in one way I pity him, yet in others, I envy him.' _Schultz thought. He continued to talk with her until she called it a night.

…

**A longish chapter to follow a smallish chapter. **

**I like to toss my jokes into my characters, such as the mating cycle of Roy Mustang. I thought of it and just tossed it in for farts and giggles. **


	12. Wrath of the Flame Alchemist

**Thought Rebound was defeated? Think again!**

…

Roy was one of the last people to leave. He didn't see Annie and figured she had left with some other guy. When he was at his house, he called Riza to check on her.

"Hello?" Riza answered sleepily.

"Lieutenant, you sound tired? Did I wake you up or did you get lucky at the party?" He laughed a bit.

"General? Yes, I had been sleeping sir. What is it?"

"Sorry." He said, annoyed. "I just wanted to check in on you. I should've realized what time it was." He said, just now looking at his pocket watch.

"I'm fine sir." She assured him. "Goodnight." She hung up.

Roy frowned and hung up the phone. _'Come on, you can trust her.'_ He told himself, but he didn't. He hated himself for it, but ever since she had tried to sleep with Schultz, he had lost all his trust in her.

…

"Lt. Hawkeye!" Maria exclaimed in surprise and stood up. "I glad to see you're back sir." She added with a salute.

Riza was taken of guard by this until she remembered the last time Maria saw her. "Yes, well, clearly I was found innocent." Riza said, sitting down.

Maria sat down as well. "I still can't believe you were accused of such a thing." Maria wanted to talk to her, but Riza just shrugged, her attention on her paperwork.

Roy walked in, a little sleepily, having hardly slept at all last night. He sat at his desk, only to stare blankly at his paperwork, occasionally glancing at Riza. When she went to lunch, he followed her and sat down next to her. He thought it was a bit weird, but he always found it a little cute when she ate. Not today though.

Riza looked at him, confused by his behavior. She expected him to be smug, not depressed. "Is there something on your mind sir?" Riza asked at last.

"No" He mumbled, pushing his food away. He hadn't even had a bite. "I have to get back to work." He got up.

Riza watched him, making a mental note to talk to him later, after work.

When Roy got back to the office, he saw Havoc on the phone.

"Its for you chief and its urgent."

Roy took the phone. "What is it?" He said into the phone.

"General Mustang, this is Lt. Colonel Schultz. I need you to come down to Lt. Hawkeye's apartment building."

"Why?"

"Its bad. The only way I can put it into words is that it looks like something Scar would've done, and there's a message for you."

Roy had heard enough. "I coming over." He said, then hung up and left the office. He thought about taking Riza with him, but decided against it. He didn't want her there for several reasons.

It didn't take Roy long to find Schultz, he was in an alley with his sergeant and several MPs. Schultz stared at Roy wordlessly as he walked pass him and into the alleyway.

Roy couldn't believe his eyes. There was blood everywhere. There was a tarp that was likely to be covering a mangled body and on the wall just above it were words written in blood reading; _**MUSTANG **__SHE'S NEXT. _"Who was killed?" Roy asked a little panicked. No one answered him. "Who was it?!" Roy grabbed an MP by the collar of his shirt.

"We don't know! She doesn't have any form of ID on her, or at least there was none that we could find."

Roy released him and slowly approached the tarp. He kneeled down and lifted the tarp up slightly. He only looked for a short moment before dropping it back down. Roy stood up. "I want Rebound found and I want him dead." He said darkly.

"We could find him with ease, sir" Schultz said.

"How?!"

"Just tell us who _she_ is." Schultz pointed at the bloody message.

Roy stared at it for a moment in confusion. _'She's next? She's already dead. Unless it means someone else.' _He thought, then his eyes went wide with shock. "We have to get back to HQs!"

…

"I'll tell her." Havoc said before hanging up the phone. He turned to Riza. "Lieutenant, there's a friend of yours waiting for you in the visitors area." Havoc said before sitting at his desk.

"A friend?" Riza replied. Most of her friends were in the military and no one has had a day off since Rebound appeared. "Who is it?"

Havoc shrugged at her question. "They didn't tell me. Except that it's a guy."

"I might as well go see who it is." Riza left the office. Rebound came to mind, but if he wanted her dead, he would've killed her last night surely. But then, just before she reached the visitor's area, she was grabbed from behind. Her attacker's hands grabbed her right arm and covered her mouth.

"So, you thought you could make a fool out of me. Well, now you're going to be the second mess I've left for Mustang to see."

Riza used the heel of her boot to kicked him, then tried to twist out of his grasp as her free hand grabbed her 45. caliber that she kept under her military shirt.

Rebound held her steady and sent a powerful burst of energy that broke arm so badly that bone broke though her skin. "You better stop that or I'll make your death as slow and painful as possible." He told her as she screamed into his hand, the gun dropping to the floor. Riza nearly blacked out when out of nowhere, he let her go. The ground beneath him had raised up and threw him backwards.

Riza fell to her knees when she was released, trying to recover.

"If you want revenge against me, you should be fighting me." Roy said, walking past Riza as though she wasn't even there. Roy raised his gloved hand up.

"Please, do you really think you can hurt me with your-" Rebound was cut off by a lack of air reaching his lungs. He coughed and stumbled around, trying to find air, but none came to him.

Riza grabbed her gun with her left hand again, not using her injured right arm. She knew she had to stop Roy.

"You killed my student and now you've caused harm to my precious subordinate. Now you have to feel the wrath of the Flame Alchemist." Roy told Rebound, still using his alchemy to keep oxygen away from Rebound.

Riza hesitated, her gun raised. _'He killed Annie?' _She thought, then remembered his grim words about her being the second mess. Annie must've been the first.

Rebound fell to his hands and knees, then took a deep breath when Roy released him. A pair of gloves hit the ground, Roy's alchemy gloves.

She saw Roy walk away. Her eyes went to Rebound and then Schultz appeared from the opposite end of the hallway. He placed a sword against Rebounds back.

"Absorb this." Schultz said, then thrusted the blade though him, before running over to Riza. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "My arm. He broke it."

"Well you be able to walk to the medical room by yourself?" He asked as he helped her up.

"Yes sir." She put her gun away and left.

Schultz and Sherman stayed behind to make sure everything was taken care of. While doing that, Schultz pocketed Roy's gloves that had been left behind.

…

Riza was surprised when she found out how badly hurt her arm was and was sure the doctors had a hell of a time fixing it. She hadn't been conscious for it thuogh.

Roy visited her the next day, it was the first thing he did when he came into work that morning and he noticed two things right away; his gloves on a table by her bed and the cast on her arm. He went up to her bedside. "How are you feeling Lieutenant?"

"I'll be find sir." She said.

"So, do you care to explain yourself then?"

"I'm sorry, about Annie. I know I'm partly responsible. When I heard the news . . .I . . .I wanted it to end. I wanted him to die sir and I was going to allow you to kill him." She admitted shamefully.

Roy sat down on her bedside and told her about the message Rebound left for him and that it wasn't her fault. Then he left, deciding he'd go off on her later.

…

As Riza healed at home, Roy was feeling awful. He felt like a monster. As he sat at a bar miserable, a woman came up to him and she caught Roy's attention because she didn't know him at all. Not as the hero of Ishbal; not as a monster.

…

Riza tried to call Roy as the days went by, but he never answered. She would've walked to his place if it wasn't so far away. She really missed him and made excuses as to why he seemed to be avoiding her.

One night, she received a knock on her door. _'Finally.' _Riza thought, slipping a robe on over her nightgown. She didn't care how late it was or that she had been about to go to bed, Roy had finally come to see her. Except, when she opened the door, it wasn't Roy who stood before her. "Sc- Lt. Colonel? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the General. Do you mind if I come in?" Schultz asked, a little uncomfortable. He avoided looking at her because he didn't trust himself to not stare at her figure.

"Okay." Riza let him in and closed the door.

"I am sorry for visiting you at such a late hour. I was wondering if something happened between you and Roy Mustang or if you know if anything is troubling him." He said, forcing himself to make eye contact with her.

"He- he is upset about how he tortured Rebound." _'Or rather how I failed to stop him from almost killing him.' _She thought guiltily. "Why?"

"How should I know? I hardly know the man. I just know something is wrong. That much is painfully obvious." Schultz took off his hat and rubbed his forehead.

"No, I meant why you were asking. Is he . . . really doing that bad?"

"Oh sorry. It's been a long day. I'm not sure how bad it is, but its bad."

Riza pushed some of her hair out of her face. _'Damn it. If only I had done something instead of just sitting there.' _Riza was angry at herself, knowing it was her fault Roy felt so bad. Roy knew it too. That's why he hadn't visited her.

Are you going to give him a call tomorrow?" He asked, starting to leave.

She shook her head. "He won't answer his phone. I'll have to pay him a visit. Thank you for telling me sir."

Schultz nodded and left.

…

**I'm glad you all love my humor. **


	13. Havoc to the Rescue

Not even half way through the story and both Roy's apprentice and Rebound are dead. Don't worry, after some not so Royai, then Royai chapters more action will happen, like someone pulling the trigger at point blank range at Roy. As Schultz said, Absorb that!

…

The next day, walking to Roy's place, Riza began to feel nervous. She wasn't sure what to say, but knew she had to do this. When she reached his house, she knocked on the door.

Roy was laughing a little when he opened the door, but once he saw Riza, he quickly stopped and frowned. "Lieutenant, what are you doing here?" Roy was unpleasantly surprised.

"I . . ." Riza didn't understand. Perhaps he was just mad at her and not depressed. "Came to visit you sir. I think we need to talk."

Roy sighed. _'Damn it. She's right.' _He thought and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "Alright, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, sir . . ." She began a little awkwardly. "I know you're upset about what happened with Rebound, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. We both know its my fault and I am very sorry sir."

"Yes, but either way, you're no longer in charge of watching my back." Roy glared at her, almost daring her to challenge him.

Riza was silent for a moment. "I understand your decision sir, but I wont make the same mistake again and I'll be there for you if you ever change your mind."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously lieutenant? That's it?" He shrugged. "It has its own charm I guess, but you were on your second chance already and you're not getting a third."

"I was on my second sir?"

"You don't recall our talk in the hospital after our fight with Lust?" Roy shook his head.

Riza looked away from him. "Very well, I'll let you get back to your friend then."

"I'll see you later, lieutenant." Roy said before going back inside to Brooke.

…

Roy didn't enjoy himself when he and Brooke went out to a bar. He was miserable even with Brooke swinging off him, trying to make him happy. Usually when he felt like this, he'd be all over her or any girl that showed interest in him, but his problem was different this time.

He dropped Brooke off at her place and returned to his house. Roy tried to sleep, but his troubled mind wouldn't settle.

He went to Riza's apartment, but there was no answer when he knocked. He figured she must be walking her dog, Black Hayate, since there wasn't even barking to be heard inside. Roy used alchemy to unlock the door and went inside.

…

When Riza went to unlock her door, she found it already was. _'What?! I know I locked it. I always do.' _She thought, uneasy. Riza still remembered the night she found Rebound in her apartment. _'Except he's dead now. I must've simply forgot.' _ Still wary, she dropped Hayate's leash and drew her 45. Caliber before nudging the door open more with her foot.

Hayate padded in calmly, wagging his tail. The lights were on. Riza knew for a fact she had turned them off.

Riza slowly walked inside, her eyes darting around the room. No one was here, but she held her gun at the ready as she checked the other rooms.

It was so strange, because everything was accounted for and in it's place, so it couldn't have been a robbery. Riza went into her room cautiously, but then dropped the stealth and caution as well as lower her gun at the sight of Roy on her bed. "Damn it sir!" She said in angry relief. "I thought someone bad had broken in." Hayate came in with a happy bark, going up to Roy. "What are you doing in my apartment anyway?" She asked gently, noticing how upset he was.

"I need you Riza." His voice cracked a little when he spoke.

Riza set her gun down on her dresser and sat down next to him, being sure to have him by her left side so she could put her arm around him. "I'm here." She said softly.

Roy put his arms around her, holding her close to him. He rested his chin on top of her head and one of his hands went into her hair as he held her tightly. For a long moment, he was quiet, feeling better. "I don't think I can do it anymore." He spoke quietly.

"You can't give up sir, not when you're so close to your goal. You're going to change this country for the better."

He pulled away slightly to look at her. "Its not what I want anymore. My dream is now a nightmare."

"Of course you're saying that now. You've just been through quite the ordeal." Riza said, meeting his eyes. "But that's over now. You didn't give up when the Promised Day ended and you can't give up now."

". . . Who's telling me this though? Riza or the lieutenant?" Roy asked suspiciously.

"We're the same person. I'm telling you as both you're friend and subordinate."

Talk about adding insult to injury. Roy stood up, looking forward. He had wondered if she was telling him as his subordinate or _lover._ "No, they're not. At least, they weren't." Roy walked from the room and left.

…

Roy collapsed onto his couch, back at home. _'Doesn't anyone care about me?' _Roy didn't mean to sound selfish, but it seemed everyone was riding his coattails. If there was a problem, everyone hid behind him until he took care of it. No one cared how it affected him. This always bothered Roy which was why he wanted to be fuhrer even more. To be on top, no one telling him what to do, to be free to do whatever, whenever he wanted.

This brought Riza into his mind. He had always thought she was different from everyone else, but now he doubted it. Was she ever the girl he thought she was? He didn't know. He knew for sure she was different. Could he still love her? He feared the answer he thought of was right.

…

Riza was desperate to be who Roy wanted her to be, to change. One day, Rebecca revealed to Riza that she now knew about her and Roy though Havoc, but Riza seemed to lack caring, claiming she wasn't sure they were anymore.

"He thinks I've changed. Have I changed Rebecca?" Riza asked her.

"Well, you're not the same shy, stuttering girl you were when you first came to the academy."

Riza knew that. Roy knew that. Rebecca's words were no help. "But have I changed in any other, more noticeable way?" Riza tried asking again.

"I . . . don't think so." Rebecca said, clueless.

Riza sighed. "Never mind."

…

Roy still went to work. He still worked towards becoming fuhrer. Riza had been right about him working too hard and long to give up. And he still wanted it, yet hated it. Being used and becoming a target for others to aim at. Not just him, but his loved ones too. One of which stayed in his mind though work, even when he got home early that evening.

He still loved Riza and wondered if she hadn't changed and if he had destroyed their relationship pointlessly. He almost believed that until he remembered what she had said. Roy shook his head. For as long as he had known her, Riza and the lieutenant were as different as fire and ice.

The lieutenant could shoot and kill someone. Riza wouldn't even allow the thought to cross her mind. The lieutenant was strict and kept everything nonessential to herself. It wasn't hard to get a smile out of Riza. Roy knew that was who she was. Its that or she changed or she was never the woman he loved.

The doorbell rang and Roy set down his whiskey before answering it. It was Brooke.

"Hello Roy, how are you doing?"

'_Riza wouldn't have to ask. She would be able to tell how miserable I am.' _Roy thought. "Fine." He answered.

"I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat sometime?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll call you and let you know when's a good time." Roy said, mostly to get her to leave. It worked. She said good-bye and he closed the door. _'I've lied to her more than I ever had to get a girl to like me. Maybe I'm the one who's changed.' _

Roy was horrified at the thought that he didn't lose Riza, but that Riza lost him. Was it him? Him that ruined the relationship? If he had changed, then he had misread Riza. Maybe they weren't a match anymore. Maybe it'd be better if they were no longer together.

…

Two days later, Riza called Roy. She hung up when it became clear he wasn't going to pick up and that was a relief to her. She had called at a time when he should be at work, so he hadn't quit. Riza thought about visiting him, but remembered how unwelcome she had been. She wanted to fix things between them, but was scared of making them worse.

…

Roy got a knock on his door. _'Don't tell me its Brooke demanding a date with me.' _But when he opened the door, he was surprised to see Havoc. Or rather Havoc's fist. Roy fell flat on his face after the blow. "What the hell did you do that for?!" Roy yelled at him with a hand covering his pained eye.

"Sorry chief. I figured you must've hit your head pretty hard to have broken up with Hawkeye. I thought a second hit would have you thinking right again." Havoc's cigarette bobbed in his mouth as he stepped into Roy's house and helped him to his feet. "Rebecca told me. And Hawkeye had told her." He added when Roy's one good eye stared at him confused.

"I didn't break up with her. If I had, I would've taken the ring back."

"Well, that's not what she thinks happened. She thinks you two are done."

"I don't know about that yet."

"Am I going to have to hit you again?" Havoc sounded almost hopeful, raising an eyebrow.

"She's changed-"

"Who changes that fast! For no reason?!"

"I don't know." Roy admitted and hung his head.

"Well, then go find out!" Havoc pointed to the door.

"I doubt she wants to see me."

"GO! Or so help me I'll . . ." Havoc raised his fist again.

Roy looked up at him suddenly. "Why are you doing this?" He had to ask.

Havoc leaned in real close to Roy's face. It was too close for comfort, but Roy's hand dropped from covering his eye and they locked eyes. "Because you love her and she loves you." Havoc said.

Roy's good eye narrowed and he nodded, before running out to his motorcycle.

Havoc watched him speed off.

…

**Not my best chapter, a real downer in the beginning, if not confusing somewhat because of Roy. But no worries, there will be no more chapters like this one. If you the reader liked it . . . it uh . . . gets better? **


	14. Fixed Only To Fall Apart

Roy's going to use his alchemy to break into Riza's place again. She better find a place to hide the panties.

…

When Roy got to Riza's apartment, he used his alchemy to unlock the door again. He rushed inside and found riza in the kitchen, aiming a gun at him. She lowered it, looking rather annoyed. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Roy embraced her. He covered her lips with his and spun her around once in the air while doing so.

Caught off guard, she dropped her gun and it fell to the floor. "Roy." Riza gasped after being set down and breaking the kiss. "I . . . I . . ." She kissed him again, unable to think of what to say.

He kissed her back, missing the sweet taste of her lips. But after a long moment, he reluctantly pulled away. "I'm sorry Riza. I jumped to conclusions without giving you a chance to talk to me." He said, still holding her.

"So . . . you don't think I've changed?"

Roy turned away and his finger and thumb rubbed his chin. He thought hard and quick on this one. He turned to her, nodding. "I've changed too though and if you really love me, I think this could change our relationship for the better." Roy then braced himself for a blow should she decide to smack him for saying something stupid.

Riza gently touched the side of his face and turned it back to her. "Roy . . . what happened to your face?" She asked.

Roy's hand went to his eye, then he quickly pulled it away. "Havoc knocked some sense back into me." He explained.

"Knocking sense into someone doesn't mean you have to hit them." Riza sighed. "Be sure to tell him that for me, but also thank him for me as well." She added.

"Are you saying that because I deserved it or because it worked?" Roy put his hands on her waist and pulled her close to him.

"Because I think its both."

He gave her a short peck on the lips. She smiled a little, but said nothing and only hugged him. Roy slid his arms around her and closed his eyes, taking it upon himself to enjoy this moment.

"I love you."

And there it was, she had just made the moment even better. He loved hearing her say those words, that when other girls said them they were meaningless to him, but when she said them, it was almost enough to make his eyes water in joy. He squeezed her tighter for a second before pulling away. He used his hand to brush her bangs back into place. Roy gazed into her eyes, admiring her beauty. "I should get going. Its getting late."

"Of course. You have work tomorrow. Well . . ." Riza cleared her throat. "Goodnight sir."

Roy gave her a short nod of his head. "Goodnight . . . lieutenant." He left her apartment, half dragging his feet.

…

Six days went by with no calls or visits from anyone and Riza was unable to reach anyone herself, but she occupied herself, cleaning her gun one handed and making visits to the library.

Then, that evening, Rebecca visited her. "Hey, have you and your boyfriend been spending a lot of time together?"

"No." Riza answered.

"No?"

"I haven't been able to get in touch with him for almost a week now."

"A-are you sure?" Rebecca said, sounding a little nervous and averting her gaze from Riza.

"Rebecca."

Rebecca glanced at her friend to see her giving her an impatient glare. "Well, its been said your boyfriend is dating again. I thought word had got out that you two were together."

Riza stood there, staring at her, then sat down. "When did you hear this?"

"Today."

"You didn't tell anyone?" Riza snapped.

"No, and I doubt the few who do know would. Listen, Riza . . ." Rebecca sat by her on the couch. "I think he's dating someone else, not you."

This earned Rebecca a fiercer glare. "Don't be ridiculous!"

"I could tell this was new gossip and if you haven't seen him-"

"Its just a rumor! Do you really believe it?"

"You have no idea how famous he is, do you? Girls chase after him all the time." Rebecca said, making Riza think back to the party where Roy had been surrounded by women. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure he wouldn't do such a thing. "They would definitely know if he's dating." Rebecca went on gently. "I'm sorry."

"I can't believe it." Riza said.

"I understand it's a lot to take in-"

"No. I can't believe it. He will flirt, talk to, and check out other women, but he wouldn't go that far. He won't do that. Especially so soon after Annie. Besides, he has me. Things are fixed between us now and I'm not going to let you or some gossip ruin this!" Riza said, getting up. "Now get out!"

"I'm only trying to help you-"

"GET OUT!"

"Fine! But don't come crying to me when you find out he's cheating on you!" Rebecca shouted back before leaving.

…

Havoc was walking down the halls of the nearly completely dark HQ's. He had finished work and had gone home just to realize that he had left his last pack of cigarettes at the office. He was surprised to see the light was still on. _'Roy must've left it on. He was the only person still there when I left.' _He thought and was shocked when walked in to see Roy was still there. "Chief! What are you doing here still? And are you . . . Working?!"

Roy looked at Havoc, trying to appear annoyed, but only appeared how he felt; tired. "Ha-ha. Very funny 2nd lieutenant. And for your information, I'm doing Lt. Hawkeye's paperwork"

"Didn't you put Ross and Brosh in charge of that?"

"Yes, but-"

"Oh, I see. Your little girlfriend has you whipped into place. Maybe even put you on a short leash?"

"Shut up." That wasn't it, but it was better that Havoc believed it was. The truth was much more embarrassing.

Havoc snickered at him, then grabbed his cigarettes.

"Don't tell me you came here just to get those."

"Its my last pack of smokes. Night chief."

Roy rolled his eyes. "At least a pack of cigarettes haven't whipped me into place." Roy got up to leave.

Havoc looked pissed, then smiled. "That's true." He laughed, walking out of the room. Roy left shortly after him.

…

Roy woke up, slowly getting out of bed. He couldn't believe it had been nine days since he had last talked to Riza. _'It feels longer than that.' _He took a shower before going into the kitchen where Brooke was.

"There you are. Did you sleep well last night?" She asked as he sat down at the table. She set a plate of pancakes down in front of him.

"Not long enough." Roy answered and started to eat.

"Are you going to be working late again tonight?"

"I'm afraid so."

Brooke looked disappointed. "Well, I better get going. I'll try to come home early." Roy Smiled and gave her a kiss before leaving for the office. _'How long before Riza finds out? No doubt she'll be pissed. She'll just have to understand this has to be done.'_

…

Riza sat in a hospital bed, glad to see her right arm bare again. They had just taken the cast off. "Finally. I can get back to work." She said.

"No, not quite yet." Her doctor said. She looked at him. "You'll have to go through muscle therapy for a week at least." He explained.

"Alright." She said getting up. "Where do I go for that?" Riza's face was set in determination, wanting to get this done as soon as possible.

The doctor smiled. "I like your spirit. However, I advise that you take it easy at first. You wouldn't want your arm to break again. Follow me. I'll take you there."

…

Riza called Roy that night, hoping he'd answer this time. Aside from wanting to tell him the good news, she just wanted to hear his voice again.

"Hello?" Brooke answered.

Riza could swear her heart froze. The phone slipped from her hand and fell and she just stood there in shock. Her eyes stared to water. Riza picked up the phone and hung it up, tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt lied to. All those promises and I love yous were lies.

Out of reflex, she raised only her left hand to wipe her tears away and when she saw the promise ring, she suddenly felt angry. As if her life wasn't bad enough already, Roy had to go and make it worse. She took the ring off and threw it across her apartment.

It seemed all that awaited her in life was being alone and misable.

…

**What was Riza's good news? Her cast was off? Or that she was . . . pregnant! And will we ever get out of this loop of fighting and going to the hospital? The hospital, yes.**


	15. Slightly Damaged Rose

**If you all hate Brooke that's cool. I write her and even I hate her.**

…

Maria came into the office and smiled. "Its good to see you again Lt. Hawkeye."

Riza glanced at her and nodded ever so slightly, then turned back to her work.

Maria's smile went away. "Are you doing okay?"

"2nd Lt. Ross, we are here to work, not chat." Was all Riza said without looking up.

Maria sat at her desk and was quiet.

Roy walked in later, looking half asleep. He went up to Riza's desk and grabbed her paperwork before realizing she was there. "Oh, lieutenant!" He set her paperwork back down. "Its good to have you back." He smiled awkwardly.

Riza gave him a simple nod, returning to her work without a word.

…

That evening, Riza was at her apartment, sitting on the couch as she held Black Hayate, stroking his fur. She was thinking about how much of an idiot she was to believe Roy's lies. Suckered in like all the other women, when a knock interrupted her thoughts. Riza sighed and set her dog down before going to answer the door. She was all ready to greet Rebecca, so when she saw Roy standing there, any words she was going to say stuck to her throat.

Roy reached into his coat and pulled out a single, slightly damaged, rose. "A flower for the beautiful young lady." He smiled, holding it out to her.

She looked down at it, unsmiling, then back at him. "Save it for your girlfriend." Riza said, then closed the door. _'That felt good.' _She thought as she walked back to the couch.

'_Crap.' _Roy thought and opened the door. "Came on lieutenant. You're not even going to give me a chance to explain?" He stepped inside.

She turned to him. "You don't have to. I know what's going on. I've seen you do it to countless other women. Now get out of my apartment."

"Damn it Riza. If that was the case then why am I here now? I wouldn't have come back after the sex and I wouldn't have tried to win your love back. Do you really believe I'd do that to you?"

"I didn't before, but I tried calling you when my cast came off and a woman answered the phone, sir. A woman. At night, and it was definitely your number I dialed."

Roy grabbed her left wrist and raised it up. "I gave you this for a-" He cut off when he saw she wasn't wearing it on her hand. Roy looked at her other hand, but it was bare too. "Where's the ring I gave you?" Roy asked, letting go of her.

"I took it off."

"Fuck it lieutenant! I didn't get engaged to some desperate woman I don't even have the nerve to tell the truth about my past for you to decided its over!" He realized how stupidly he had worded that, but didn't care. He was pissed.

Riza stepped away from him. "Well, if you got engaged to her you clearly know who you're going to be with . . . for the rest of your life." She said, eyes watering.

"Riza . . ." He said gently now. "I had to. It was getting out that we were together. You have to believe me. I would never cheat on you."

"Why couldn't you just tell me sir?"

"That's what I came over to do" Roy said and Riza hug him.

"I'm sorry sir."

"No, I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner."

…

Roy sat at a cafeteria table. He was starting to get used to having no women around him. Instead, Havoc and Denny were the only two sitting with him, until Schultz and Sherman joined them that is.

"Hey Denny. Aren't you supposed to be sitting with Maria?" Havoc asked, feeling a little crowded.

"I couldn't find her." Denny said disappointedly. "I-I mean, I don't have to hang around my partner all the time. I like to hang with my guy friends too."

"Careful Donny-"

"Denny."

"Whatever. You don't want you to pull something." Roy said, rolling his eyes.

"You're one to talk. Aren't you having troubles in bed?" Havoc said as he elbowed Roy.

Roy almost choked on his drink. "What?!"

"That's what the wife says."

"That's because I haven't had sex with her . . . yet." Roy replied, knowing he had to sound as if he were actually into Brooke.

"Are you and Riza having marriage troubles?" Schultz asked. Now all eyes were on him. "What?"

"I'm engaged to Brooke."

"You're cheating on Riza?!" Schultz said, surprised.

"I'm not with the lieutenant." Roy replied.

"So she's available?"

"Yeah chief, is she?" Havoc joined in, enjoying this too much.

Sherman sighed, annoyed.

Roy glared at Havoc. "If you think, let alone want, to get with her more power to you."

"Good point. I'll pass." Havoc said.

Schultz didn't respond to that except for shoving some food into his mouth.

Roy gave Havoc a pass this time, but wished he'd stop _helping _him. The subject was changed.

…

That night Roy visited Riza. He sat down on the couch with her. "I want to talk to you about Brooke." Roy said, not wanting to hide anything.

Riza nodded, looking away from him. "Go ahead then." She said.

"I need to know if you want to know what I do with her, such as date and what we do on them and if anything is off limits."

"No." She said at once. "Its best that I don't know what you do with her and honestly, you're engaged to her. How can anything be off limits?" Riza added, looking back at him.

"If you have a problem with anything at all, I'll come up with a reason not to do it. Anything." He said, leaning back.

"Until you run out of excuses and appear to be just avoiding it." She stated flatly. "I'm not happy with the engagement to begin with, but it has to be done. So, you just . . . do whatever has to be done to keep you two together."

Roy looked away and scratched the back of his head. "Well you see . . . its-it doesn't matter." Roy quickly backed out of it.

Riza looked away from him again.

He looked at her and bit his lip before turning his head away. _'I should tell her. She has the right to know.' _Roy thought. "She wants to have a baby." He blurted out in a soft voice.

There was a long silence before Riza spoke. "Did anyone ever tell you you have poor taste in women?" She closed her eyes with a sigh, suddenly feeling tired from all the strain on her relationship with Roy. "Never mind. Its just-there's nothing I can do about anything and its frustrating."

An engagement was one thing, but a family was more permanent. Riza ran a hand through her hair. "Can't you just tell her you don't want kids? Or maybe tell her to wait after the wedding or a couple of years? You two really are rushing into things. At least, it feels that way to me." She looked down at the floor. "But . . . you'll think of something. I'm sure." Riza went on with renewed strength in her voice.

"I can't delay her for long. She's desperate." He shook his head. "What an ass I am. Using her. Wasting her short time that she has with someone who doesn't actually love her." Roy rubbed his chin, then snapped his fingers. "That's it! I need a man! For her. She needs a man . . . one who can give her a child. She needs to have an affair. Its perfect. A win-win. Or a win-win-win. Whatever. Everyone wins."

Riza would like to know how he planned on doing that exactly, but apparently it was a plan still in the works. She got up. "Alright, that's settled." She said.

He watched her. "I'm surprised lieutenant. Is that really it? Not going to point out all the flaws or that it's a stupid idea? Is something wrong?" He said, actually concerned.

"No sir. I see many things wrong with your idea, but I imagine you'd work it out to have voiced such a thing in the first place."

"Nah, but it's a good idea. All I need is a guy who knows what's going on and is okay with it. That'll be easy to do." Roy smiled.

"Hm. Well, speaking of your fiancée, shouldn't you be heading home? Its getting late and you wouldn't want her to worry."

"She didn't miss me last night and if I remember correctly I had stayed here late into the night." He said suggestively.

"You're not staying late into the night tonight sir. I'm tired." Riza said, which was true. But another reason for it was that they had just finished discussing Brooke.

"Tired? Come on Riza?" He scooted closer to her. His sinfully excited eyes looked into her lesser so eyes. "Please don't send me into the cold night when I would rather stay in here with you."

"You can stay another time, but not tonight."

Roy sighed. "Its alright. I understand." He brushed her bangs aside and kissed her forehead. He then got up and walked to the door where he stopped suddenly. "Lieutenant, just remember who I'm really with. That's an order." He said without turning around, then left.

Riza smiled a little in amusement at his parting words. _'I won't.'_

…

**For those who noticed, Roy mentions twice that he and Riza had had sex, but in the story that never happens. Well Riza had called Roy over to get his gloves back that he left behind in his fight with Rebound, after her cast was removed (another time she calls him and gets Brooke instead.) So Roy comes over and Riza tells him the gloves are in the closet. While he looks she changes into just her robe. Goes back to him and takes it off. But all that and more was edited out by co-writer and editor FFF. **

**Also the slightly damaged rose thing became a big hit in our stories after this chapter and kept making reappearances thought out all our stories. A good metaphor for their relationship I believe.**


	16. Nightmare

**I finally got the Sims 3 Pets. . . I hate it. Sims 1 okay. Sims 2 awesome. 3? Terrible. I won't be getting the 4th if they ever put one out. 1st family I made on the game, Roy Mustang.**

**This part touches on abortion. I know it's a touchy subject so I tried not to take a side. **

…

Roy was skimming through his paperwork at his desk the next afternoon, his mind elsewhere, thinking of taking Riza out somewhere. Then something caught his eye. He pulled a file out of the stack and read it over. He shook his head, then picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Havoc watched Roy talk into the phone, wondering if he'd explain this.

When Roy hung up, he turned to his subordinates. "Listen up everyone. We've got a mission to do. We're hunting down an alchemist-"

Havoc let out a groan. "Not again."

"Shut up. His name is Maxwell Lasker. He's wanted for questioning in a murder. When MPs went after him, he fled and went into hiding. We're going to track him down and bring him in for questioning. He is considered unarmed and not a threat. I want all paperwork set aside. This is now our top priority."

Riza sighed. _'Not again.' _

"Wait a second, I heard about this guy in today's newspaper." Denny said. "He's a doctor that . . ." Denny tapped his chin. " . . . ended a woman's pregnancy. It was a really sad story."

"Is that even a murder?" Havoc asked.

"Why? Because she had asked him to do it or because she was only in her second month of the pregnancy?" Said Denny.

"Second month? Hmm . . . I don't know. I mean, if she wanted to I guess that's okay." Havoc shrugged.

"I don't care what you think! Any of you!" Roy glared around the room. "I want you all working on finding this guy." He huffed.

"Yes sir." They said and filed out of the office.

…

In a matter of three days, a series of minor leads led them to North City. More specifically, a military hotel. Havoc, Denny, and Maria stayed there while Roy and Riza went to see Olivier to get permission to operate in the north.

"Captain Falman!" Roy said upon finding his old friend once inside the great northern wall.

"Its good to see you again sir, lieutenant." Falman greeted them with a salute. "I'll be taking you to the Major General." Falman suddenly noticed the ring Riza wore and the much less fancy one Roy had recently gotten for himself when he got engaged to Brooke. "Dang sir, I would at least expect a latter if you two were getting married."

"Huh?" Was all Roy could say.

Riza looked down at her hand, then Roy, then Falman. "I'm not engaged to him Captain." She said. It was strange how Falman, once a warrant officer, was now a higher rank than her. She wasn't jealous. It was just something she wasn't used to. "I'm into someone much more to my liking."

Roy laughed that one off. "No need to be so hurtful lieutenant." Roy turned to Falman to get revenge. "She's too serious and boring for me." He leaned in close to him. "Just between you and me, she doesn't believe in open relationships. Like I'm going to be tied down by one woman." He shook his head.

Falman looked from one to the other. " . . . right" He turned and led them away.

…

After being informed of why they were there, Major General Armstrong had a question for them. "How long have you been pursuing this alchemist?" She'd been told he is unarmed and is no threat, but that didn't matter to her. Doctor or not. He could be dangerous.

"We've been tracking the suspected murder for days now." This was very serious for Roy, so he didn't make any jokes. He needed her approval.

"You may have my permission on one condition, one of my men must work with you while you're here."

"I'm guessing its not going to be Falman."

"I'll have Major Miles work with you." Olivier said, ignoring Roy.

Roy shrugged. "As long as he stays out of my way." He turned and walked from the room.

Riza bowed a little to the Major General before following Roy

He wanted to leave as soon as possible, so he headed for the main doors. Miles was there waiting for them. Riza greeted him, Roy didn't, making it awkward and they made the trip back to the hotel in North City. They were inside just as night fell.

"Damn chief. How many babysitters do you need?" Havoc joked after Miles was introduced.

"No one ever seems happy unless I have one." Roy sighed.

Riza didn't understand. They should've expected something like this from Olivier and it was only one man, or babysitter, as Roy and Havoc put it.

"Its good to be working with you again sir." Miles said, referring to the rebuilding of Ishval. Roy shook his hand. "So when did you two get married?" Miles asked, gesturing at Roy and Riza's rings.

"No. Why does everyone keep assuming that? Its not even legal for us to date, let alone marry." Roy said.

Miles pushed his glasses higher up on his nose. "Forget I inquired."

Roy looked around the room. "Alright everyone, go ahead and head off to your rooms. Get some sleep. We've got a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow." Roy ordered.

"Yes sir!" They saluted him and headed off to their rooms. Roy went to his own bed. He laid down under the sheet and closed his eyes.

…

Roy sat at his desk back in Eastern HQ's, alone in his office. Then the door opened and Riza walked in. Her head hung low and her hands together. Something was wrong, Roy knew it. "What's going on Riza?" Roy got up and they walked to each other.

"S-sir . . ." Riza started stammering, still looking at the floor. Roy placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She turned her head away from it. "I'm pregnant."

Roy grinned. "I don't know why you're upset then, that's great news!" He wanted to burst with happiness.

Riza pulled away from him and glared at him. "No, its not! Can't you see sir? We're monsters. After everything we've done, what good could our child do? He'll want to get into alchemy and guns. He'll easily fall onto the path of evil."

Roy was crushed. "Please don't say that Riza. We'll teach him better. We'll tell him-"

"Tell him what? What we did in Ishval? How do you think he'll take that? It'll either kill him or he'll think its okay. Okay to take a life." Riza interrupted him.

We won't tell him then." He tried to calm her with a hug, but she stepped back.

"And lie to him? How would that help? He'll find out sooner or later and end up hating us for it. I don't want that sir. Which is why I ask this of you." She took a deep breath. "No good will come from me having this child . . . please sir, end this cursed pregnancy."

Roy stepped back in shock. "Y-you want me to kill my own child? To hurt you again? I couldn't possibly bring myself to do that!"

"Please sir!" She said with the same look on her face that she had had when she requested him to burn her back. "Do this for me and I'll never ask anything of you again." Riza almost begged.

Roy looked away. "No. I'm sorry Riza, but I could never do that. To you or our child."

"Its okay sir. I understand and I don't blame you . . . but I can't allow this baby to see the light of day."

Roy heard a click and looked back at her. She held her gun and it was aimed at her temple.

"I'm sorry sir."

"Nooo!" He reached out to stop her, but she pulled the trigger before he could.

…

Roy sat up as quick as lightning, breathing as fast as his heart was beating.

Havoc, who was sharing the room with him, rolled over in his bed, falling off of it and hitting his head on the nightstand. "Ow! Damn it! What's going on chief?" Havoc asked, getting to his feet with a hand over one eye.

"I'm going to find out. You stay here." Roy ordered and ran out of the room shirtless. He needed to see her right now, just to make sure she was okay.

"No problem!" Havoc called after him.

Roy entered the room Riza was in, making quite the ruckus. He stepped in the doorway and turned on the light.

Riza stood, up and alert, facing him. She was an interesting sight with her long, blonde hair hanging down, unbrushed, wearing only her black shirt and panties, and holding a gun in her hand which was aimed at him, but then lowered. "What is it? What's going on?"

Roy wanted to sigh in relief and embrace her, but he couldn't anymore then he could tell her the truth as to why he had intruded. However, he couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on his lips. "Its nothing. I thought I had heard something. Go back to bed." He turned the light back off and left the room. His nightmare flashed though his head. 'Is that how she really feels?" He wondered.

Alone in her room, Riza was confused. She thought about going after Roy, but everyone else might be awake too now. Whatever it had been, it could wait.

…

**I cried while writing the nightmare part. I mean what? Let's play some football! I am a man, damn it! *SOB* Its just so sad!**


	17. Mission Failure

**Its taking me longer to update because I'm not _feeling _it anymore. Whatever the hell that means. Excuses, excuses.**

**Remember when I said Roy would be shot at? Now's the time. **

…

That morning, everyone gathered in Roy's room. Miles had a small pile of papers with him when he came in. "I've looked up all the known people who have moved to the northern area in the past week that match the description of the suspect and have ordered them by where they're currently living. Just under two hundred people in forty-seven different cities." Miles handed Roy the papers.

"I thought you were supposed to watch me. How did this get turned around?"

"Well, you still give out the orders sir."

"Right. We'll split up into three teams. Maria and Donny-"

"Denny!"

"-Havoc and the major, and the lieutenant and . . . myself. We'll each take sixteen cities and hit as many as we can in one day. Miles, split up the work according to how close the cities are to each other." Roy ordered.

…

As Roy and Riza went from house to house, Roy found himself often shooting glances at her while she hung back quietly. He did all the talking, determined to find the guy. It was getting dark as they approached their last house for the day. For the thousandth time that day, Roy shot her a quick glance.

Riza wished to speak to him, clearly something was bothering him, but she stayed quiet. It could wait after this house when they walked back.

Roy knocked and the door opened. A young woman with black hair greeted them with a smile. "What can I do for you?" She asked.

"We're with the military. We're looking for an alchemist by-" She slammed the door in his face before he could finish. "Well, I guess we found him." Roy muttered. He clapped his hands, placed one on the doorknob, using alchemy. He opened the door with ease, and was welcomed to the sight of a gun being aimed at his face.

"You all better get out of here right now." She warned.

"Now, now. Why don't you just put that down before you do something you'll regret." Roy held out his gloved hand in hope that she'll just hand it over.

Riza just about panicked, but calmly spoke, "We only wish to bring Maxwell in for questioning, nothing more."

"You're not taking him anywhere." The woman cocked her gun.

Roy looked at Riza. "R-lieutenant please. I have this under control." There was a click and he looked back to see the woman had pulled the trigger. "You were going to shoot me?!"

"No!" She dropped her rifle, not understanding why it wasn't working.

"Arrest her." Roy ordered and pushed past her.

"You can't take him! He only did what he thought was right!" She begged to Hawkeye as she was grabbed and taken outside by her.

Riza couldn't feel sympathetic towards her. She kept seeing her finger pull the trigger and remembering how her heart seemed to stop in a second that lasted a lifetime and then hearing a click that left her shaken in relief. She almost lost Roy and knew she couldn't live on without him.

Roy found Maxwell in a bedroom, sitting on a bed. He chuckled as Roy entered the room. It sickened Roy. "You did it. I can see it in your eyes."

"And I see a lot more in yours." Maxwell replied.

Roy stepped forward and grabbed Maxwell's shirt collar in his fist. "How dare you compare me to you. We are nothing alike."

"You're right. You're far worse."

Roy's grip tightened. "You killed a baby, a fellow Amestrian, before it could be born or form a thought or an opinion. And I'm worse?"

"Yes, well, still. A single life is worth one life. I've killed one person and how many did you? Too many to count?"

"I regret what I did, do you?"

"Does that matter? Even if I did, that baby would still be dead."

"I was protecting the lives of my fellow men."

"And I the mother. She desperately didn't want that child and I didn't want her to harm herself." Maxwell's words brought the image of Riza shooting herself to mind as he remembered the nightmare.

"What did that baby ever do? What did a baby do to deserve to die?"

"Do you ask yourself that about all the women and children and babies that you've kil-"

Roy punched him across the face, knocking him to the ground. He took his anger out on Maxwell in a series of kicks to his gut, before taking him downstairs.

When Roy came outside, Riza could tell something was very wrong, but he had a subdued Maxwell with him, so that couldn't be it. It could only be something going on inside him and chances were it was connected with how he's been acting recently.

"Let's turn these two into the northern military and get the hell out of here." Roy said. They dumped Maxwell and the woman at an MP station, then walked back to the hotel.

"Any luck chief?" Havoc asked when Roy and Riza walked into his room. Everyone else was there waiting for an answer as well.

"We caught him. The lieutenant will fill you in." Roy said and took a seat on his bed amidst the cheers at the news.

Riza did as Roy said, keeping it short and then left. She was still shaken and could not share in her friends joy, so she isolated herself in her room.

"Alright, alright. Take it to your own rooms. I want to get some sleep before the train ride back." Roy said not long after, waving them out.

"Its not like you to be such a downer chief." Havoc said as he stripped for bed.

"Have you seen Hawkeye?" Roy asked suddenly.

"Not since she told us what had happened. Why? Are you worried about her?"

"I'm worried she's worried about me."

"Why would she be worrying about you?"

"Because I'm worried about her."

Havoc spent the rest of the night trying to work out what Roy said.

…

They got off the train, back in East City, and had to report to HQ's to get the paperwork done. On her lunch break, Riza went to find Rebecca, wanting to talk to her.

Being a real gossip, Rebecca sat with a bunch of people. "Riza!" Rebecca waved when she saw her friend. "We were just talking about you and Mustang. You did a great job up north. Caught him in no time." A couple of cheers and murmurs of agreement arose from the table.

"Actually, it is all thanks to the General and Major Miles that we caught him." Riza said, not liking this. She wished Rebecca had been alone.

"You're too modest. Take a seat, tell us all about it." Rebecca insisted.

"No thank you. But since you know I'm back, then you know you can stop watching Hayate for me." Riza walked away as there were disappointed moans.

That evening, Riza had just left her apartment building to walk Hayate when she saw Rebecca coming over.

"Riza, I want to apologize for earlier at lunch. Its just . . . me and my friends wanted to know what happened. I didn't think it'd be a problem. You do need to talk with other people more." Rebecca said.

"I am not proud of what I do Rebecca and I'm not going to tell it like a story to your friends like I'm boasting about it! I didn't even do anything! I was useless! The General almost died and I wasn't any help at all!" Riza snapped and walked off as Rebecca stood there, stunned.

After walking a few blocks, Riza sat on a bench, holding Hayate's leash tightly. A few tears rolled down her cheeks. She hated herself for knowing that if Roy had been shot, it would've been with her having done nothing to stop it. Riza hated herself for wishing she had killed that woman as well. She had never wanted to kill anyone before and was afraid the change was permanent.

…

Roy was plagued by nightmares much like the one when Riza ended her and her unborn child's lives, but he refused to talk to Riza about it. They were just dreams after all. But then, during work, his head hit his desk and he let out a snore.

Riza's head jerked up at the noise and she set her pen down, looking annoyed and yet a little concerned.

"Is he going to be okay?" Maria asked.

Riza got up, dismissing her question with a wave of her hand. "Its not unusual for him to fall asleep at work . . . though he's usually more subtle about it." She added in a murmur and gave Roy's shoulder a shake.

At first, his hand just crumpled up a piece of paper, then he shot straight up in his chair. When he saw Riza in front of him, it scared him and he jumped back, causing his chair to fall backwards.

He and the chair hit the floor with a loud crack. The pain Roy felt told him this wasn't a dream. He quickly stood up. "What the hell was that for lieutenant?! Are you trying to kill me?!" He shouted, making Havoc, Denny, and Maria look over in shock. Roy never snapped at people, especially not his beloved lieutenant.

Riza was taken aback. "You-you-I'm sorry sir. I was only waking you." She bowed her head and walked back to her desk. _'Does he blame me for why he was almost killed?' _Riza was afraid so. She had distracted him after all.

…

**Cast; Olivier by FFF, The doctor Alchemist and the woman that almost shot Roy, EW.**


	18. New Mission, New Plan

**Its going to take me longer to update, because I'm now taking my time typing this up. Its more fun for me that way. I hope my fans understand, I'd hate to disappoint them. And by fans I mean fan, I have a reader who reviews often and privet massages me. I would call her a friend or proclaim how awesome she is but . . . I can't remember her user name. *Embarrassed!***

…

Roy couldn't believe how stupid he had been. He was scared of Riza, just not of her killing him. He'd been avoiding her ever since they had left the north. Now he had taken it out on her. Instead of staying at the office, he went to go see Riza. He wanted to apologize to her so badly, he worked out what to say before knocking.

Riza opened the door. "Sir, uh . . . come in." She stepped aside.

Roy stared at her face, studying it as he walked in, then he turned around. "There's something on your mind. Its bothering you. Tell me what it is."

She closed the door. "It started up north. After you burst into my room, you were shooting me these looks all the time. I wanted to talk to you, but we had a mission to do. Then that last house we went to. I wanted to kill that woman, just because she almost killed you." She looked down, sitting on the couch.

"You wanted to? That's nothing Riza. If it was you the gun was aimed at I would've blown her up without hesitation. I wouldn't have regretted it either. Not then, now, ever. That's why I wanted you to stay quiet. If you had said the wrong thing . . ." He sat next to her. "Besides, I was never in any danger. I used alchemy to remove all the air from the barrel of the gun. No air, no spark, no gunshot." He explained, trying to comfort her.

"You were never in any danger?" Riza was relieved. "There's no fault to be had then. You have no idea how relieved I am." She said, letting out a breath.

Roy smiled. _'She was worried about nothing. Maybe I am too.'_

…

"Hey chief, I'm going down to the firing range. Do you want to come with me?" Havoc said from the doorway of the office.

Roy glanced over at Riza who sat at her desk. "Why would I want to go?"

"Come on, you never do and I need a good laugh."

That struck a nerve. "Fine." Roy said, shaking his head. He got up and followed Havoc to the range.

Roy stood at an open spot and waited for Havoc to come out of the locker room with his gun.

"You didn't have to wait for me sir." Havoc said, taking a spot next to him.

"I wanted to see you go first to know how hard it'll be to beat you."

"Good luck." Havoc said with a laugh, then raised his shotgun and fired off six rounds. The first missed, the next grazed the target, and three hit the target's chest. The last shot just barely missed the head. "Damn. Oh well, like you'll beat that." Havoc said, reloading.

Roy pulled out his sidearm. He fired five shots. Each one hit a target between the eyes.

Havoc's jaw dropped, causing his cigarette to fall. "Damn sir! I didn't know you could shoot that well! You're even better than Hawkeye!"

"Maybe, but I wouldn't tell her that."

"I still won though. Only one of your shots hit the target. The last four shots passed through the hole the first one made."

Roy shrugged. "Yeah, I let you win."

"I don't need you to let me win."

"Oh yeah? How about round two?" Roy reloaded.

"Pass." Havoc answered quickly. "So where have you been for the past two days?" Havoc asked after a moment.

"With Riza and Brooke. Yesterday it was Brooke and the day before that, Riza."

"What did you do? Come on man, details!"

"Alright. Calm down." Roy put his gun away and leaned against the table at Havoc's booth. "Me and Brooke spent most of the day shopping, then went to an expensive restaurant before going back to my place. I don't know if I can afford to stay with her. She is so self-absorbed. She thinks the world revolves around her."

"Rough. What about your day with Hawkeye?" Havoc looked over at him.

"Huh? Oh . . . uh, well, we had sex and I made her dinner." Roy said, looking away.

"And?" Havoc nudged him.

"That's it."

"What do you mean _that's it_? You two had the whole day off. What else did you do?"

"Oh, well the sex lasted all day."

"All day?"

"All day." Roy confirmed.

"Dang. We need to go out and get some drinks and you can tell me all about it then."

"No."

"Why not?" Havoc said, disappointed.

"I'm not going to talk to you, or anyone, about Hawkeye as if she's some short of tramp. I love her, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, that doesn't mean we still can't get drinks." They walked into the locker room and Havoc put his gun away.

"I'd rather not. I've been busy lately."

"I get it. You're too busy with your girlfriends for any guy time." Havoc patted him on the back.

Roy was surprised by how well he was taking this and began to feel guilty for ignoring him lately. "Sorry, but I'm afraid so." Roy nodded.

"Its either that or you're WHIPPED!" Havoc pointed at Roy's face.

Roy sighed disapprovingly.

"Roy's whipped! I never thought I'd see the day that ladies man Roy Mustang would become whi-"

"I'M NOT WHIPPED!" Roy shouted, slapping Havoc's hand away.

"Prove it then. Tonight is guy's night out. We'll go to some crappy bar and drink till we can't drink no more."

"Fine."

…

Havoc came into the office the next morning and whispered into Roy's ear. "When I found out about this, this morning, I got all the information I could.." Havoc handed him some papers, then headed to his desk.

As Roy read, the phone rang. He picked it up. "Let me guess. This has to do with what I'm reading now." It was. "Why wasn't I informed about this sooner?" They didn't think it was important until now. "I should know what is going on at my HQ's. The fact that this was hidden from me is inexcusable." Excuses, excuses. "Whatever. I had to solve this far too long ignored problem." Roy hung up and continued to read the papers Havoc had given him.

Riza glanced at Roy, curious, but if she wasn't going to be told, she wasn't going to be told. Simple curiosity is not enough to deserve to know and she returned to her work.

"Lieutenant." Roy said when he was done. He looked at Hawkeye. "Leave the room. You are not going to take part in this . . . mission." His order ended slowly.

Riza was taken aback by this, but got up. "Yes sir." She said and left.

When she was gone, he filled Denny and Maria in. "All three-, four cases are the same. Four female officers from East City HQs on different nights had been leaving work when forced into a secluded area, had a bag thrown over their heads, and were then raped. Any ideas on how to find the guy doing this?"

"Bags over their heads? Sounds like he's dehumanizing them. Maybe he has a problem with women in the military." Havoc suggested.

"Then why not kill them?" Roy asked.

"Maybe they're warnings or he doesn't have it in him to kill them."

"If he was trying to make a point, he would've left some kind of message. Not even the victims know anything. It could be that he had a love interest in the military. He possibly stalked her and she rejected him when he asked her out. He hated her because she thought she was better than him and started to rape women to make himself feel like his better than them."

"But none of the women said they knew any suspicious men." Denny said.

They discussed it a bit longer when Roy spoke up again. "I think its safe to assume that he lives or works near here. Its time to start researching."

…

"Oh, hello Lt. Hawkeye. How are you doing?" Schultz greeted her when she stepped out of the office.

"I'm fine sir." Riza replied. It was a bit surprising to see him since she hadn't seen much of him after Rebound's death. Riza preferred it that way though. She still found it awkward to be around him.

"Same here. Say are you free after work? I could treat you to dinner." Schultz offered with a slight smile on his lips.

The offer left her speechless. He couldn't be hitting on her, he himself wanted to keep the relationship professional. He had to be only seeking out a friendship, which she was fine with. It'd' be nice to put the awkwardness behind them. "Okay."

"Great, I'll meet you outside as soon as I'm done with work." Schultz said, then continued down the hall.

Riza was later let back into the office and when she was, Roy was the only other person there. He handed her an envelope. "I'm issuing you a temporary transfer notice. I'm short several desk clerks. You know they sort though and deliver paperwork. You are going to be filling one of those positions."

". . . I see. Yes sir." She said, taking the envelope. Riza opened it to see when she'd be starting, which was tomorrow. It also said that she should wear the appropriate uniform of a desk clerk, secretary, ect. Which meant a skirt. _'Is this for Roy's amusement?' _She wondered. That evening, she remembered to wait for Schultz and the two went into his car.

…

Roy watched the two go and shook his head. _'She makes terrible bait. Oh well, I knew that. I'll just have to see how it goes.' _He thought.

…

**Jakbnimble! That's my number one fan's user name! I didn't remember . . . I looked it up.**


	19. Desk Clerk

Jakbnimble, I fixed my last chapter. I'm sure you are a very pretty girl, though I have nothing to go on but your word, which I'm sure is very trust worthy. I hope one day your blood thirst for violence will one day be filled, as well as for everyone's, or is it just Americans' who have that?

**Don't forget to review.**

…

The place Schultz took Riza was a little dark and unwelcoming, but he assured Riza that the staff was kind and the food was good.

After ordering, the waiter took their menus and left. Schultz looked at Riza and smiled. There was a look on his face and a gleam in his eye that Riza had never seen in him before. "So, what have you been up to?" He asked.

"Nothing special. Just work. Something interesting did happen to me today though. The General decided, out of the blue, to transfer me temporarily to be a desk clerk."

Schultz spat out his drink, spraying it all over the table. "My apologies." He said, grabbing the napkins he had and cleaning the mess. "You don't sound worried."

"Worried? Its temporary. Its not like I'm going to stay a desk clerk." Riza replied, thinking he was overreacting.

"You don't know? In just over a month four female desk clerks have been raped. Each one of them quit their jobs from what I've heard. Except for the latest one which happened last night."

Riza looked surprised. "What? Why would he not tell me he made me bait?"

"Yeah, how would that work? You wouldn't even know you were in danger. It isn't right for him to just use you without your knowledge. To put his own subordinate in danger without telling her isn't right."

"As much as I agree with that, the General always does something for a good reason. We just don't know what it is."

"He is a reckless man who takes whatever credit is owed to him. He takes big risks needlessly as if only to make himself look better." Finished cleaning up his mess, he tossed the dirty napkins to the side of the table. "I'm speaking highly of him of course. He keeps his friends and men out of danger whenever he can. Until now at least."

"Well, I can prepare for it now." Riza understood the bait idea and was willing to do it despite Roy's lack of informing her. "I hope you're doing better at least." She said.

He took a moment to answer, his hand fumbling with a ring on his left hand's ring finger. "Yeah. Things have been going better recently. Last week me and my men took down an armed burglar without a shot being fired. If only every mission could go that way." Schultz said and Riza agreed. A thought came to Schultz. "Did you do something to anger Mustang?"

"No, I don't think so." Riza answered after a moment.

"If you did, you should make it up to him. Make him see how much you care. Don't allow whatever happened ruin your relationship. Don't wait or delay and you can never try too hard." Schultz spoke like a man who had been through it all before, and lost.

Riza took this in, looking at his ring. She understood now that he must have been through a lot of pain.

The waiter dropped off their food during the silence, then left. _'Wait. Relationships?' _She wasn't only getting a look into his past, but relationship advice from him. "You've got it all wrong. Me and the General are just friends."

Schultz gave her a look that said: _really? _"I know. Don't ask, its not important."

Riza sighed a little, then smile. "Thank you for the advice."

…

Riza walked into her new office, wearing make-up and leaving her hair down to try to look more appealing to the rapist.

There were two other girls in the room who looked oddly alike. They were clearly friends, standing a little off to the side, giggling to each other.

Soon, a young man walked into the room, pushing a cart full of letters in front of him. He was short and had blond hair. Half his face was riddled with small scars and on the same side of those scars, an eye-patch covered his eye, and his hairline was shorter. He stopped his cart in front of Riza's desk. His one good eye was light blue in color and aimed right at her.

A bright, happy smile crossed his lips, which had a small tear in one end. "Well, hello. Such a beautiful young lady like you, this must be your first day. How about I take you out for a night on the town sometime? I can show you all the best places to go to have fun." He said, picking up some of the letters from his cart.

One of the giggling girls turned to Riza. "Don't mind Thomas. He asks every new girl out." She said before turning back to her friend and giggling.

"Oh, uh . . . sorry Thomas, sir, but I'm not interested." She said and sat at her desk, organizing the paperwork.

"Well, can I at least get your name or shall I keep calling you _beautiful young lady_?" Thomas asked.

"Riza Hawkeye." Riza said, giving him a short glance.

"Hawkeye? The Hawk's Eye?" He said shocked.

"She's prettier than I imagined." One girl whispered to the other, who giggled.

"Yes sir. My superior has sent me to help you out since you're short so many people."

Thomas was left stunned and then snapped back into the real world after a moment. "Why do you keep calling me _sir_? You outrank everyone here, well, except the captain. He's late today." He added, then looked around. "I should warn you, the-"

"Thomas! Stop flirting with the fresh meat!"

"Yes Captain!" Spooked, Thomas more or less spilled the rest of the letters onto Riza's desk, then quickly pushed the cart out of the room, leaving.

"Why aren't you two at your desks?" The Captain asked of the two girls.

"No excuse! Sorry Captain!" They said, heads down and no longer giggling. They quickly went to their desks.

The Captain walked over to Riza. "Why is-" A couple of papers fell from her desk onto his shoes. A vein bulged in his forehead. "Why is your desk in such a mess newbie?"

"I'm organizing it right now sir." Riza replied, swiftly picking up the fallen papers.

"Listen you. You're on thin ice. You didn't answer me, you didn't look at me when you spoke, and you'll refer to me as Captain. You got that?"

She looked at him. "Thomas dumped these letters on my desk when you arrived Captain and yes, I got that Captain."

"You better learn fast. I don't know who your last superior was, but we do things differently here and until you do learn, I'll call you . . . harlot. Since you look like one." He turned away. "Now get back to work all of you." He ordered.

\

Riza was annoyed with her new superior. He was on her every nerve and it took quite a bit of control not to snap back with some smart-ass reply on occasion. Did Roy know he was like this?

She slipped into the General's office later that day, her arms full of paperwork. Riza set some down on everyone's desk, coming to Roy's last. After freeing her arms, she was able to do as she had planned earlier. "General Mustang. I have something special for you."

Riza pulled a slightly damaged rose out from under the blue uniform top she wore and set it on his desk. "The person who left it sends you their love." Riza added, than left, knowing the Captain would be angry if she took long, though he'd probably be angry either way.

Roy stared after her, then picked up the rose. He was speechless. No one had ever done anything romantic and sweet for him before. Did Riza know how meaningful this rose was to him? He looked at the rose and smiled.

He felt his eyes watering up. _'Riza.' _He thought, then jumped to his feet ready to chase her down. To hug her and cover her in kisses, but he stopped himself. He couldn't and he knew it. Not while they were at work.

…

When Riza left East HQs, she allowed herself to relax briefly. Who knew work as a desk clerk could be so stressful? She actually wouldn't be surprised if the Captain turned out to be the rapist.

Riza tensed up as she started to walk home, alert. The attacks may have been spaced far apart, but you never knew.

Almost by cue, a hand came out of the shadows from between two buildings and grabbed her shoulder. It pulled her into the alleyway and she was spun around, before being pushed against a wall. Her arms were effectively pinned down, so she was unable to throw a punch, but she was ready to kick him, when he spoke.

"Its good to finally get some free time with you." Roy said with a smile.

"Sir!" She gasped her leg only twitched, stopping herself from kicking him. "You-I thought you were the rapist. You scared me." Riza said and let out a breath, trying to relax, but she remained alert and wary.

"Hey! You don't know that. Maybe I am. Maybe putting you on the case was some overcomplicated plan." He said.

Riza was unamused. "Let me go sir."

"Why?" Roy asked inching closer to her. "You know I'm not, but I could be this one time if you want."

"I'd rather not. There's an actual one around here somewhere and I expect you to take it more seriously."

One of his hands let her go and traveled down to her thigh. "So I take it I'm not allowed to thank you, cause I want to return the love to sender." Roy had some pride in his ability to come up with cheesy lines.

She lightly smacked his hand off her thigh. "You can at another time at a place where no one will catch us at it." But then, feeling bad for rejecting him, she apologized. "I'm sorry."

"Its okay, Riza. I'm not mad at you." He let go of her other arm and held her, giving her a kiss. "I could never stay mad at you."

She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him back. "I love you."

"I love you, Riza, and I always will. No matter what." He placed a hand on the back of her head, holding her close to him. They stayed like that for awhile, then Riza pulled away.

"I have to go home, but when we get this guy you can return the love to the sender then." Riza said with a hint of a smile and walked off.

Roy knew she could handle herself, but couldn't help wanting to protect her and keep her from the danger he had so carelessly thrown her into. Even if everything was working out fine so far.

If Riza got raped, Roy would never forgive himself.

…

**Cast; Team Mailroom Clerks, EW. **


	20. Brutle Captain

I have only been typing this story and not reading, because all the big popular stories out there, The Little Hawk, read only the first chapter and it made no sense but inspired me to write a better version of it. 20 First Dates, that was great until Roy got with Riza as the guys had planned, but they got together too soon? The guys wanted the crazy dates, who's whole reason was to get them together, to continue? I stopped reading then. And then there is The Best Kept Secret, it wasn't actually bad, but all it was, was following the original story with Roy and Riza always doing it.

All three of those stories are better then all the RoyxEd stories. There are like 10 of those for every 1 Royai one. I don't understand it. BLAH!

…

After a few more days of taking verbal abuse from the Captain no matter how she tried to please him, Riza gave Roy a call after work. Even though she told herself she'd never call his home phone while he was with Brooke, she felt she had to talk to him.

Roy was quick to pick up the phone. "Hello Lieutenant. What is it?" He said lieutenant because even though Havoc was the only one who always calls him, he hoped he would hear Riza's voice on the other end.

"Sir, I apologize for calling you at this number, but I couldn't get a chance to talk to you at HQs. Its about the rapist sir. I have a suspect. The Captain that's in charge of the office I work at isn't just strict. He goes out of his way to make me look incapable of doing anything and everyone fears him – except me. Which, I can only assume, might be why he picks on me in particular." Riza reported, very business-like, not at all complaining as some soft-hearted woman might, but Roy didn't take it that way.

Roy tapped his foot as he listened. "Lieutenant, I'm disappointed in you. While I'm displeased to hear about your treatment, your news is nothing new. If what you said was true, then I'd have to discharge half of all commanding officers in . . . Amestris. He is not a rapist. Its common for the officer in charge to harass, mock, and even insult new members in a way to find out if they are though and loyal to no end. It can last for several days even months if they think the newest member needs it. I'm also disappointed that you would accuse someone of something so serious because of a little teasing. Unless you can be more sure of who the rapist is, my advise to you is that you show a little spine and . . . if it helps, pretend that he's me."

"I'm sorry for bothering you then General." She said then hung up. Riza was angry that he thought her cowardly. "Will I be proving myself to him next?" She wondered aloud to her dog, Hayate. She sat down with mixed feelings. Most of all, she felt alone.

So she took the _'teasing'._ The yelling, the nickname . . . and it began to bring up suppressed childhood memories where she had always been bullied. The Captain was just another bully, except he didn't beat her up. This may explain why she had gotten so angry at first. She thought she had escaped that kind of thing a long time ago. But now she lived with it like she had when she was younger. Riza certainly couldn't stand up to him the way one would with a childhood bully, she could lose her job.

Then one day she entered the office and it was deathly silent. Riza could feel the fear, pain, and hate in the room.

The girls sat at their desk, busily working. There was no sign of their bright smiles and endless laughter.

Thomas sat on the side of his chair, facing away from the door. His head was hung low and his hands were in his lap. On his desk were some bloody tissues, but everything else that had been on his desk was scattered on the floor.

The Captain looked up from his work when Riza walked in. "Where were you? You missed today's lesson." He said, clearly meaning what happened to Thomas.

Riza took in the sight and felt something in her go cold. "I walk to work Captain. I apologize for being late." She answered automatically, looking at him. Then she walked up to the Captain.

She had grown to like Thomas and the girls. They all had to put up with the Captain. And now, to see one of them hurt, she suddenly felt protective. Not just of Thomas, but the girls too. "Captain, I suggest you don't hit anyone here because I won't put up with it." She said, her golden gaze fierce.

The Captain stood up. "I don't care for the suggestions from a Harlot. And I didn't give you permission to speak freely. Now take your seat." He ordered.

"No. You have no right to be hitting your subordinates."

He slapped her. "You have no right to tell me what I can't do! Know your place!"

"I know my place Captain, but I cannot let this happen. You take this test too far." Riza replied, looking back at him after receiving the slap.

"Test?" He laughed. "What test you stupid Harlot?"

"The test of loyalty and strength, but all it is, is lessons on how we should fear you."

"It took you that long to figure it out? You really are a stupid Harlot!" He smacked her again.

"You can hit me all you want. The only thing you make me feel is disgust." Riza went on, standing her ground. "Captain."

He started slapping and hitting her in a rage. The Captain struck her over and over again, only stopping when the butt of a stapler came down upon the back of his head. He fell to the floor; unconscious.

Thomas was standing right behind him, stapler in hand.

Riza wiped some of the blood underneath her nose off with the back of her hand, looking at Thomas, then the Captain. She saw he was still breathing and looked back at Thomas. She said nothing, but the look she gave him was very grateful. _'I have to report to the General.' _Riza thought. "All of you stay here. I'll be back." She said, then left the office.

Riza hurried to Roy's office, then walked in. "General Mustang, sir, I have an incident to report."

Roy almost fell from his chair in his rush to get over to her. "R-Riza! What happened? You're bleeding!" He said, shocked and worried. Roy placed his hands on either side of her head, checking her injures.

"Sir, please. Its not that bad." She said, gently removing his hands. "And there's a more pressing matter at hand. The Captain had bloodied Thomas' face, so I had a word with the Captain and he started hitting me. Thomas hit him over the head then, so now the Captain is unconscious in the office." Riza explained.

"What?! That's . . ." _'what you tried to warn me about.' _Roy finished in his head. He looked away in shame. He had dismissed call, thinking she was being arrogant. He was wrong. The Captain had been and was abusive. Roy was supposed to protect Riza and instead he had ignored her. Now she had been beaten bloody.

"I'm sorry." Roy muttered, still not looking at her. The apology wasn't aimed at just Riza, but her father as well, not that he could hear him.

General, don't blame yourself for what happened. We both knew there was a chance I'd get hurt anyway on this mission or any other for that matter. Please pull yourself together sir. We have to do something about the Captain."

Roy was silent. He had failed her and this was all she had to say to him. Of course it was. She had given her whole life to him, devoting herself to him, while he always lived it up. "Have the MPs arrest him." Roy mumbled and then slowly walked off.

"Yes sir."

…

After leaving the office, Roy hit the showers. He hated using HQ's showers. He only used them after working out and even then he would usually use the girl's showers. The female officers never reported him and in fact used the showers more. He stuck to the men's shower now though. He thought best in the shower. With unlimited hot water, Roy stayed in until it was late, then dressed and went home just to be called in the middle of the night.

"What is it?" Roy asked when he picked up the phone.

"Its about the rapist sir." The MP who had called him said.

"Where?"

After getting the information he needed, Roy left to find out what had happened. It was a long night and Roy never got any sleep that day.

…

When Riza came into work, Thomas wasn't there and the two girls were talking to each other.

"Where's Thomas?"

"I don't know. He's always in before us."

"Maybe he's scared to come in because of what he had done to the Captain."

"I don't blame him. I almost didn't come myself." The girl's conversation ended and one of them looked over at Riza.

"Oh, the General called, he wants you to go to his office."

"Alright. Thank you." Riza turned and left, coming into Roy's office a little later. "You wanted to see me sir?"

Roy looked up at her tiredly. "Yeah." He yawned. "Mission's over. You can return to working here now."

"Oh. Yes sir." It was good news, but she'd miss Thomas and the girls. Riza sat at her desk.

"There's more news Lieutenant. The rapist wrote three letters. One of them is to you." Roy said trying to shake off his tiredness.

"What?" Riza said, rather shocked.

"Yes. A . . ." Roy picked up a piece of paper.

…

BLAM! Cliffhanger! Who was it? Shit. Like everybody doesn't know.

**Do you know? I want to hear your guesses for my entertainment. **

**And to raise my review count. **

**How can the Little Hawk have more reviews than me?! **


	21. Letter From A Rapist

Well, Halloween is coming up. It makes me think of this picture I saw with Roy and Riza in it. Roy was dressed up as a vampire and Riza was in a cat suit. It was a sexy cat suit to boot. She had her hand on Roy's shoulder and he was smirking. I was like, this would be the perfect poster if Ed and Winry weren't in it, and if it wasn't raining candy. The thing that was most wrong was that one of the raining candies was a candy cane. Look it up. You'll go, WTF. That candy is old!

…

"Private Franklin Thomas. A letter of thanks for showing him the true will and strength of a soldier. After writing these letters he took his own life."

Riza stared at Roy and the letter in his hand. It was hard to believe. He had seemed like such a nice guy. He had even saved her from a worse beating from the Captain. The good feeling she had earlier from saving her former co-workers was gone.

Riza looked down. "I . . . I didn't know. I would've never guessed." She said at last, mumbling to herself.

"You did a good job lieutenant. You made him see what was right and how wrong he had been. This came to the best possible ending. All the letters are classified and everyone thinks he killed himself for an unknown reason."

"Yes, I suppose I did." Riza spoke quietly.

Roy stood up. "Are you okay Riza?" He asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine sir." She replied, looking back up. "Its just such a shock to me."

"I'm going to get myself a cup of coffee. You need anything?" Roy asked as he headed for the door.

"I'll take a coffee too." Havoc said just to be hit in the head with a pen thrown by Denny. "Ow, hey! What was . . . " Havoc trailed off with a glance at Riza.

"No sir." Riza said. When Roy left, she got up and approached his desk. Riza picked up the letter addressed to her to read for herself.

_Riza Hawkeye,_

_I didn't know before if you cared about me. You rejected me when I asked you out, but so did every other girl that I asked out, ever since a grenade took half my face in Arugo. You stood up for me and after the Captain struck you, you told him that he disgusts you. That was the true will and strength of a soldier. I thought that by doing what I was, I was showing that I'm still tough and was taking what I deserved. I was a hero, yet all the girls were disgusted by my outside, never caring for the real me that was inside. Instead of not caring, I became just as disgusting on the inside as my outside. I thank you, Riza Hawkeye for showing me what was right and how wrong I had been. You are the ideal soldier._

_Privet Franklin Thomas._

Riza set the letter back down. She turned around. Her desk was empty of paperwork because she didn't receive any as she had been working in another office. "If the General ask for me, tell him I've decided to work as a clerk for the rest of the day." She told the others in the room, then left.

This was something that just really bothered her for some reason. He was a rapist yes, and probably deserved what happened to him, but Riza couldn't help wishing she had been there for him as a friend. Someone who helped keep him from going down the wrong path. She understood the insecure feeling of how other people might view a body's scars and ugliness. Riza had never even gotten the chance to thank him for helping her.

Riza entered the office where the two girls were. Here they needed help, being short so many people. She would also tell them about Thomas so they don't hear it later as rumor, but she wasn't going to tell them he was a rapist, to let him be remembered as a kinder man to some at least.

…

That afternoon Roy stood in front of his own desk, a sword he requested rested next to him. He watched quietly as two MPs escorted the Captain, Captain Panzer, into the room. They stopped in front of Roy and the MPs took a few steps back. Everything was still and quiet for a second and then suddenly Roy drew his sword and pointed the tip of the blade at Panzer's throat.

"What? Are you going to kill me for hurting your little girlfriend? How will-" Panzer spat angrily only to be cut off by Roy.

"Please. I'm going to hit you where it really hurts." With two swings of the sword, Roy cut both of Panzer's epaulettes off. "I'm stripping you of rank and sending you back to the academy. You will be retrained and when finished you'll return with the rank of private."

The look on Panzer's face was one of pure horror.

"And as for hurting my subordinate . . ." Roy's sword slashed across Panzer's lower left leg. He screamed out in pain. Roy looked at the MPs. "Get him out of here." He ordered, then looked back at Panzer as he was being dragged away. "Report to the academy as soon as you're out of the hospital."

…

Riza got into bed and Hayate joined her, curling up in the empty spot beside her. Though it was a small bed and it wasn't much of an empty spot to begin with, Riza did still wish someone was there. Someone who'd help her forget all of this. She had to smile a little at the sad humor of it all. Even together she felt they were too far apart.

After a long, sleepless night, Riza prepared to go to work. There was no longer a reason to look appealing and she didn't bother putting on a skirt and make-up. She put on pants and boots and put her hair up with the barrette and soon she left.

She was almost at the door to the office when she noticed Roy walking towards her. He looked happy and well rested as he approached.

"Oh Lieutenant. Perfect. There's some-" Roy's happy and almost smug voice trailed off now that he stood in front of her. It was clear to see the bruises on her face when he was this close to her. He bowed his head at this reminder of his failure to protect her. He had let her and her father down. He could have easily stopped this if he had just listened, but he had been juggling so many different things and somehow had allowed her to drop.

Worst of all, Riza, the woman he loves had gotten hurt because of him and her beautiful face was now a beat up reminder. The one thing he loved staring at the most now pained him to even glance at. It was a cruel punishment for his lack of trust in his lieutenant. He should've taken her word for it and hated himself for not doing so.

"Never mind." He mumbled.

Riza looked at him, a little concerned, then went inside.

…

"How am I going to take my stuff with me?" Brooke cried from outside the house.

"I don't care. Just don't come back!" Roy shouted, tossing the last of her stuff outside. He slammed the door closed, then collapsed onto the couch. He started to relax and rest. _'Its good to have finally gotten rid of her.' _Roy thought.

…

The next evening Roy looked around his home. It seemed so empty without Brooke. Not that he wanted her back, it just seemed so boring and lonely now. He wished he had Hawkeye over. Instead of sitting around, he decided to do something about it.

Roy hopped onto his motorcycle and rode off to Hawkeye's apartment building. A moment later, he stood in front of her door, knocking.

The door opened and Riza stood there, wearing a rode. "Hello sir."

"I hope I'm not intruding Lieutenant." Was Roy's response in greeting at the sight of what she wore. "May I come in?"

"Of course." She let him in and closed the door. They settled down on the couch together.

"You should know that you can call me whenever you like. Brooke won't answer it."

"Oh? How did you get her to agree to that.?" Riza asked.

Roy smirked, not about to tell her the truth. She might decide to say they should stop seeing each other. "How do you think? I'm the man, she's the woman. I told her and she listened."

Riza's eyes narrowed a little. "Why didn't you do this before then?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Lieutenant. Is the timing of my ideas not suiting you? Well then, its your turn. Go ahead, lets hear yours. I'm eager to hear what you've come up with." Roy said to make a point.

Riza looked away from him. "I won't call you?" She mumbled.

"What?" Roy asked, not understanding what she had said.

"I won't call you. That works just fine."

"Don't! Don't be like that! I didn't come over here to fight with you." Roy said, turning his hurt into anger. He stood up. "I don't bust my ass just to be with you for you to be making smart ass remarks at me."

"You wanted to know what I came up with, that was it. I have been avoiding calling you if I could, apparently you never know or you would've been angry a long time ago." She said calmly.

"My ideas are supposed to allow us to spend time together. I try to come up with something that you'll be happy with so I can be with you and you with me. If it was up to just me I would screw it all up and just be with you, but there's two people in this relationship and you're more sensible than that." Roy said, forcing himself to calm down.

"I know sir." Riza said after a moment. "I know all of that. I'm tempted to ruin everything just to be with you at times also, but you are just as sensible."

Roy smirked again. "Sometimes." He agreed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you." Then something hit him. "Damn! Can we not get through a day without fighting or having to say we're sorry?! Its because we have to keep our relationship a secret. Its putting all this extra unnecessary stress on us. Well, no more! I promise to never yell at you again, to try my best to understand you, and to treat you better. Just like I've always done until we got together, except now I'll treat you better . . . er? Yes, betterer." Roy finished his rambling speech dramatically, striking a pose at the end with his hands on his hips and his chin held high.

". . . Yes, me too sir." She said, having to appreciate his promise if not his awkward, dramatic end to it. Riza got up and slipped her arms around him in a hug.

Roy was caught a little off guard, but returned it. He came a long way from having his heart skip a beat every time their hands brushed against each other when she handed him something.

…

**FFF loved Thomas. I made a rapist lovable . . . What do you all think about Thomas? **


	22. Her Real Birthday

It's weird how I kept asking you all to review me very nicely, and no one really did. Then I go off on a rant dissing all the most popular stories out to date, excluding FMA LOL which rocks, and everyone reviews me in a snap.

**My story here is nearing it's end, _finally, _what a relief. Now I can . . . what's this . . . ? Oh right, I have more stories to post. Crap. I mean, yay. Are you guys and beautiful ladies, jackbnimble is one of those I heard, excited? I'm so much so I could shoot my self.**

**BLAM!**

…

Riza called him after work even though she didn't have much to say. "Hello General." She said when he picked up. "Its so nice to be able to call you without worrying about your fiancée answering. It'd be even nicer if I could visit you for once one day." She added a little wistfully, but that was more likely to happen in her dreams like marriage and children. Roy did everything and she couldn't do anything. Except call him. "I'll just have to have you do the visiting."

'_That's sweet of her to say.' _Roy thought. Even if she sounded a little wistful, Roy could tell she was happier. _'Maybe I could allow her to visit for one day. No, she would find out I left Brooke and my place is a mess. I got too used to Brooke cleaning everything. I should do something for Riza. There's that gift I got her, but that's for her birthday which is . . .' _He checked the calendar. _'Friday? Damn! Time has been flying.' _

"Well then I guess I'll have to visit you twice as often to make up for it." He told her.

"That's fine with me." Riza said.

"Hey, how many days off do you have left?" _'I'm too lazy to find out for myself.' _He added silently to himself.

"I currently have six sir." She replied.

"Sick days?" He asked since six wasn't enough.

"I've never used them sir."

"Of course. Try not to use them. You'll need them later." _'Has she ever used a sick day before?' _He wondered.

"Yes sir." Riza said, though she didn't understand what she was saving them for.

"I'll come over and see you after work tomorrow Riza. We'll talk more then. I have to go now."

"Alright. Good-bye." She hung up.

…

The next night Roy was at Riza's door with a bundle of flowers in his hand. A smile crossed his face when she opened the door. "You're as beautiful as ever." He said, handing her the flowers. No slightly damaged rose this time. Roy didn't want to overdo it.

Riza smiled, taking the flowers "Thank you." She said with a bit of a blush, then went into the kitchen to put them in a vase.

Roy loved making her blush. For him it was when Riza looked her most beautiful. It showed emotion that she normally hid. He followed her into the kitchen and came up behind her. Roy wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her behind the ear. Riza laughed softly, his lips tickling her.

Roy placed several more kisses onto her neck before turning her around in his arms. "Is now a good time to return the love?" He asked suggestively.

She kissed him. "Yes. It is."

"You're not worried about anyone catching us?" Roy teased.

"No Roy. I'm not." She said, putting her arms around him in return and then kissing him.

Almost completely lost in the kiss as he returned it, Roy realized something. _'I actually like it better when she calls me __**sir **__instead of Roy. Do I have a power fetish or am I just too used to her calling me sir?'_

…

Roy woke up the next morning with the feeling of some weight on his shoulder. He realized he was in Riza's bed. Her arm laid across his chest and when he turned his head, he found himself face to face with Riza because her head rested on his shoulder. She was still asleep.

Roy smiled. It was so simple and yet this was what he wanted. To wake up every day with Riza next to him. His hand gently brushed Riza's hair and he started humming softly. This was what he wanted in life, nothing more.

'_Is it?' _He couldn't help wondering. Was Riza more important to him than Amestris? Did this woman really mean more to him than his own country? It was easy for him to answer as he continued to run his hand through her hair. _'Yes.' _

Riza's hold on him tightened a little as she stirred, then she moaned softly a little as she woke. "You're still here." Riza said softly, sounding surprised. She lifted her head and a soft jingling arose from this moment, coming from the dogtags and ring on the chain around her neck. She had moved the ring there recently and now the chain had become something she never took off.

She kissed Roy. It didn't start out passionate, but it became so. Then she broke it slowly. "I wish we could stay in bed today."

Roy shook his head and his smile grew. "No. For forever." He said, looking up at her. He rubbed her cheek. "You fell asleep right after so I couldn't leave. I could never sneak out of your place as you slept. You're not just another girl to me. I love you too much to do that to you."

Riza smiled a little at that.

…

At work, Roy was being eaten alive by his thoughts. _'How can I want Riza more than to become fuhrer?' _Was it that it was easier to get with Riza? Or was it that Amestris didn't need him and Riza did? _'A lot of people want to see me become fuhrer, but at the same time a lot want me to get with Riza as well.' _

If he got caught with Riza before he became fuhrer then he would never be fuhrer. Then again, there were plenty of other things he had done, and was still doing, that would also stop him from becoming fuhrer. So he couldn't stop seeing Riza. If he did, it would mean he didn't care for her as much as he did other things. _'And I care for her a hell of a lot more.' _He told himself and got to work.

Once he was done with his work, he went up to Riza at her desk. "I got something for you Lieutenant." Roy said, reaching into his coat. "For your birthday." He added.

"What?! Today is her birthday? I thought I missed it awhile ago!" Denny said surprised. He looked at Maria.

"Oh . . . uh . . . about that birthday list. It wasn't a birthday list." As Maria explained to Denny, Riza looked at her superior.

"My birthday is tomorrow actually sir." She corrected.

"Right, I know. But I can't give you the gift on your birthday." Roy said and pulled out a brochure and placed it on her desk, turning it so that she could read it was about a spa. "A one week stay. All to your self."

"A spa?" She said, pleasantly surprised though uncertain. It wasn't exactly an ideal place for her because of her tattooed and burned back. "That's very generous of you sir. Thank you."

"Enjoy yourself Lieutenant. I expect you to be stress free and smiling when you come back."

"Ha!" Havoc laughed. "That's a stretch."

Roy glared at him.

"What? It's true. She rarely smiles." Havoc said, shrugging.

…

Riza took the brochure home with her, then called Rebecca. "If you want to give me my gift, you can come over and do that today. You can't come tomorrow because I'll be spending the week in a spa by then."

"Wow! Wait, let me guess. This is your boyfriend's gift to you?" Rebecca said.

"Yes it is."

"Well, about my gift to you, it was going to be a homemade cake and I can't give it to you because I haven't made it yet."

Riza smiled, warmed by the thoughtfulness of such a gift. Rebecca usually got her make-up or clothes she couldn't wear. "Don't worry about it. Your gift to me can be watching Black Hayate."

". . . okay." Rebecca reluctantly agreed.

"Thank you. Bye." She hung up.

…

Lieutenant Hawkeye dressed in civilian clothes the morning of her birthday and walked to the spa. A week of massages and relaxation sounded nice, but she was worried about anything that required her to expose her back.

Riza entered the lobby of the spa. It was a very fancy and empty place as she and the desk clerk were the only ones there. At the sight of Riza, the desk clerk looked ready to leave.

"Name?" She asked.

"Riza Hawkeye."

"Alright. You have a seven day stay, your room is room twenty-eight; the honeymooner's suite, and you have unlimited access to Waterfall Spring's Spa Resort. Please enjoy your stay." She signed some papers, handed Riza her room key, then headed for the exit, but stopped at the door. "Don't forget to try our mud baths." She beamed a smile at her before leaving.

Riza looked around as she walked to her room. She supposed the honeymooner's suite was the best they had, since Roy would get her the best. The place seemed rather empty.

She unlocked the door to her room and went inside. The room was huge. It had a heart-shaped bed and a fountain off to the side. The fountain was quite the sight to behold, being inside, and it had a statue of cupid in the middle of it.

Riza smiled, looking around, she then noticed there was a walk-in closet as well, but what really caught her attention were the flowers and note left on the bed. She went up to the bed and sat down before reading the note. _'Look at the doorway?' _She read to herself. That was all it said.

…

**I looked at more of today's fanfics and found the people like to have Riza kidnapped. I don't. I have never, and neither as FFF, done that. We have too much respect for her to do that. Plus if someone did that all that would happen is that Roy would blow up the bad guy, maybe more than once. **


	23. The Best Gift Ever

**Since I forgot before, Cast; that girl who was a desk clerk at the spa, EW.**

**I hope you all liked her.**

**Something funny to try in this chapter, replace the word 'Roy' with 'the stalker' **

…

Roy watched her as he leaned against the door jam. A gentle, loving smile crossed his face and he wished he could watch her longer.

'_I just passed through the doorway, what-' _Her thoughts broke off when she turned and saw Roy. "General!" Riza exclaimed in surprise, then got to her feet and ran to him, embracing him.

Roy embraced her back, then let her go. "Ha, you didn't think I would leave you by yourself here on your birthday, did you?"

"Actually, I did." She admitted, moving away. "Just don't stay late. You've done enough of that recently."

"Riza, don't you worry about that. Just leave it to me. Hey, did you see what I left for you in the closet?" He asked, changing the subject.

"No sir, I haven't." She replied, letting it slide for now. Riza opened the closet and there in the middle of it sat a jewelry box.

Roy came up from behind her. "Open it." He whispered and she obeyed. Inside the jewelry box was a chain necklace much like the one that held her dogtags and ring, except this one was gold and fancier.

"Its beautiful." She said softly as she held it up to better admire it. "Thank you sir." Riza turned to him and gave him a kiss. "You've really outdone yourself this year." She told him.

"Well, I had a lot of years to make up for. Its what you deserve." He said, then kissed her. "Do you want me to put it on for you?" He offered.

"Yes." She said thankfully and handed him the chain.

Roy brushed her hair off to one side and removed her old chain necklace, sliding off the ring and dogtags. Roy set the old chain and dogtags aside, then slipped the ring on the new chain and put it around Riza's neck. He kissed the back of her neck before moving back a step.

She turned to him, smiling. "How does it look?"

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He said, placing a hand on her cheek.

She blushed.

Roy leaned in and gave her a short passionate kiss. "So, what do you want to do first?" He asked, his lips an inch away from her's.

"What is there to do?"

"There's messages, a hot spring bath house, a steam room, a pool, sun bathing, and a bed."

"Hm, let's do messages first." Riza decided.

"All right then. This way." He said, taking her hand and leading the way. He took her to a room with six massage tables. "What do you want to start with? Foot, back, or neck massage?"

"Sir, what happened to all the staff?" Riza asked after a brief moment of silence. Something had been bothering her ever since the desk clerk left and she knew what it was. There was a lack of people here.

"Come on Lieu-Riza. I'm not stupid enough to invite you to a spa where someone might see something you wouldn't want them to. I know the guy that owns the place and called in a solid. I just have to give the employees their week's pay."

"You just keep on surprising me sir." Riza took a seat, kicking off her heels. "Let's start with a foot massage."

Roy nodded and knelt down. "Lucky for you, I have some experience doing this."

Riza didn't pay much attention to what he said, relaxing at his soothing touch.

As Roy massaged her foot, he would kiss it every now and then. After five minutes, he moved to the other foot. _'This is all about her. I'm going to keep her happy and try my damn hardest to make it one of the best weeks of her life.' _He thought and grinned as he kissed her toes.

Riza laughed quietly. "Sir, please! You're tickling me!"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How about now?" He said, moving his lips away. His massaging fingers started tickling her.

Riza jerked her feet away and onto the table with a laugh.

"Don't think that you can escape from me so easily." He smiled wickedly as he stood. Roy grabbed her foot with one hand and tickled it with the other.

"Sir! No!" She laughed trying to free her foot to no avail.

"Aren't you ticklish here too?" He asked as he struggled to place kisses on her neck.

"Stop!" Riza put her other foot on his chest and leaned back, trying to keep him away.

"Stop what?" Roy overpowered her foot with ease and was now straddling her.

"Alright! I surrender! I surrender!" Riza managed to cry out between laughs.

"Smart move Riza." He let go of her foot and gave her a peck on the lips. "What should I do with you now?"

Still breathing a little heavily, Riza replied, "I think I know." She smiled.

"Me too." Roy kissed her again as he slid her skirt off.

…

As a day and another day passed with Roy never leaving her side, Riza realized he had to have left Brooke to do this and it pleased her.

When the week ended and she went into work, Riza couldn't help but smile when she saw Roy at his desk.

Roy was also happy, despite the pain his shoulders were in from Riza's nails. He leaned back in his chair, relaxed and Riza let him be, but only for so long.

"Not doing your paperwork today will only cause it to build up tomorrow sir."

"But that requires moving." Roy whined. He huffed out a breath, annoyed. "Fine. Get me an ice pack though Lieutenant." Roy grabbed a pen and paper and got to work.

"Yes sir." Riza left the room, returning a little later. She handed him the ice pack.

"Oh, thank you." Roy paused in his work to shove the ice pack down his shirt so that it rested on his shoulder. "Ahhhh. That is so much better." Riza returned to her desk and Roy watched her as she walked away before getting back to work.

Havoc snickered quietly.

…

Roy and Riza were in Roy's house sitting on his couch, happy. "Riza, why did you choose me?" Roy asked suddenly.

She was quiet for a moment. "I didn't really choose you, no. It was my heart that chose you. If it had been up to me, it would've been someone outside the military. It would've been the smart choice. But certain events drew me to you. I'd say it started back when my father taught you alchemy and you saw me being bullied and stood up for me. And then the day I showed you my father's secrets. I was . . . afraid of how you would react. That you would think it-that I was hideous. But you didn't. You were kind to me when others weren't. You told me your dream and it inspired me. I decided to follow you. From there, we went through a lot together and got to know each other so well that if anything happened to the other, we'd lose it." Riza rested her hand on Roy's side, the side that had the burn scar. "In the end, I knew there wasn't anyone else for me out there."

"I'm happy to have left such a mark on you, no pun intended. I wondered why I could never find a woman that could take a young sharpshooter off my mind. No matter how hard I tried. I guessed it was your beauty and intelligence, but I could find that in any girl. Then I figured it was our trust and history together, but given time I could also get that with any girl. I realized it was because you still saw me as a good guy after Ishbal. No matter what it was I had done in the past you only judge me for the good I had done. It was that undying faith and loyalty that I could find in you and only that I loved. The other things are a bonus though. There's no girl out there who can compare to you. So, yeah, there's no one else out there for me either."

She smiled and rewarded him with a kiss.

…

The next day at work, Roy got a phone call. "Hello? General Mustang speaking." He answered.

"General, there is a rumor that you are sleeping with one of your subordinates. Is it true?"

". . . uh, well yes." Roy said, recognizing the voice.

"Is it Hawkeye?"

"Yes sir. Sorry I didn't wait. I couldn't keep my hands to myself."

"Well, I guess its up to me to save the day. I've had a good run. Come to Central for your final promotion and bring my granddaughter with you so that you can marry her."

"Yes sir. I'll come over tomorrow." Roy hung up, then burst out laughing. _'Loving Riza didn't hurt my career, it got me to the top!'_

"What is it sir?" Riza asked. Her attention had been caught when she had heard him say 'sir'.

"I'm going to Central Lieutenant, and I'm not coming back. Are you going to join me?"

"Of course, you know there's no need to ask." Riza replied.

"Good. We're to pack and leave at once. Our next stop? The fuhrer's office."

Riza's eyebrows raised up a little.

"At once?" Maria murmured to herself in concern, knowing with the General leaving, she and Denny could be split up. Denny was clearly thinking the same thing.

"Meet me at my-no, it'll be better if I meet you at your place." Roy said to Riza as he left. "I'll come over as soon as I'm packed up!"

…

**The call was from Grumman. Cast; Grumman, EW. **


	24. Moving Into A New Life

**This chapter is more M than T, like the last one was. Sorry for the late warning. The M is because Riza finds Roy's _adult_ toys. There still is no lemons, or as I call them sexytime scenes, they were all cut out. (If there were any. I don't recall.) **

**My catch phrases for Roy Mustang; Awesomeness, use, to describe something as cool. Sexytime, use, in the form of a question to find out if Riza is in the mood. Both words are never actually used except in funnies.**

**Funnies are little side notes me and FFF put down while writing our stories that are supposed to be laughable. **

…

Riza packed in a kind of state of shock. She couldn't believe it. Roy fuhrer. He had finally reached his goal. The only thing that brought her down was that she was leaving her friends in the East. She had never even gotten a chance to say good-bye to them. Riza was going to miss them, but at least she could still call Rebecca and talk to her.

Roy _borrowed _a state car to put his stuff in, which was boxes mostly, and also a motorcycle. He couldn't leave it behind after all, he had only recently purchased it in a gotta-have-it-once-you-see-it moment.

He drove to Hawkeye's place and soon knocked on her door. "Are you ready to go?!"

The door opened and Hayate rushed out and jumped on him. "Down Hayate!" Riza scolded her dog and he moved away with a small whimper. Riza looked at Roy smiling a little. "I just finished packing and was trying to find a moving company to get my things to the train." She told him.

"Don't worry about that. I took a car from HQs. I'll help carry your things down." Roy said and it wasn't long before they were driving off. Roy couldn't stop smiling. To say he was excited was an understatement, but one thing was bothering him. "Aren't you going to say something Riza?"

"What can I say sir? I'm speechless. You've finally reached your goal and I'm pleased, but I've never heard anything about Grumman even considering retirement." She said, holding Black Hayate securely in her lap.

Roy was expecting something more out of Riza somehow. "Well, he heard about us and decided to let me take over. I just had to bring you with me."

"By us, you mean our relationship?"

"Yes Lieutenant. Now do you see why I laughed? It was so backwards and yet I should've known Grumman would do this."

Riza didn't know Grumman as well as Roy and was confused by this. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, well . . ." _'Change the subject! To what? Anything!' _Roy thought. "MINI SKIRTS!" He burst out. "That'll be the first thing I do as fuhrer or do you think that's too soon?" He added.

"Too soon." She said with a sigh.

"I'm not going to put it off too long. I'll give it a month or two, but I'll make an exception for you." Roy added when he saw how annoyed she looked. "One week."

Riza looked at him and then smiled a little.

…

Once in Central, Roy took Riza to Central HQs and had their things sent to the fuhrer's house. "I'm going to talk with Grumman. You go ahead and do whatever you want." Roy started to walk away. "Except follow me." He said without stopping.

Riza stayed where she was to wait for his return.

…

The sun was setting by the time Roy came back out. "We're going to need a place to stay the night as Grumman is moving out." He said, walking up to her. "We can use a military hotel, until we get more permanently settled."

"You seem excited."

He passed her and got on his motorcycle. "You do realize we can be openly together now right?"

"Yes, I suppose we can." Riza realized that what she said didn't come out right. "That is, of course we can. If the fuhrer approves of it, it most certainly means we may. Even if you weren't to become fuhrer." She said as she walked over. Riza got on the motorcycle with more ease than usual, having had a few rides on it, she was getting used to it. But she still held onto him tightly, nervous about falling off.

"Yeah, but I am." He grabbed his helmet and held it back to her. "Would you rather wear it?"

Riza took it. "Yes sir. Thank you." She put it on and held him more loosely, taking the offer as a hint that she held him too tightly.

Roy started the motorcycle and they rode off. Once there, Roy got them a room and led Riza to it. He opened the door for her, letting her go in first, then came in himself and closed the door before hugging her from behind. "Well Riza, you're alone with the future fuhrer of Amestris in a hotel room. He starts coming on to you. What do you do?"

"I ask what he's into, because I might want to play his slave or try some other fun things."

"Well, he would love that idea. So you better get that cute ass stripped of clothes and in that bed." He ordered, letting her go and giving said ass a slap.

Riza laughed and hurried away, stripping off her uniform and removing her guns as she went.

…

Roy had so much fun last night. He never would've guessed that Riza would've made such a great sex slave. He was feeling awesome thinking about it as he signed papers giving him power as fuhrer with the press and Grumman watching. _'I can't wait to get back to her and do it again in the fuhrer's-my-our house. I wonder how she's settling in.' _

Later that day, Roy quickly ran inside the house and slammed the door shut and locked it. Moments later, he heard banging against the door.

"Come on sir, don't make this so hard. Open up." A voice said from the other side.

"No! You people are crazy! I already have a woman following me where ever I go!" Roy shouted.

"We're just trying to do our jobs, now please make this easy for us and open the door."

"Forget it Robert. Let's just use the back door." A second voice said.

"Oh no you don't!" Roy shouted and took off. He just barely beat them to the back door, locking it.

"Come on sir, there are many other ways we can get in."

Never! I'll make this place impregnable! I'm trying to get some action damn it! Do you know how weird it'll be with you two watching!"

"Well, we wouldn't watch _'that'._" One of them said.

Roy ran off, continuing to fortify the place.

"Sir, what's going on?" Riza asked as he ran by, getting up.

"Bodyguards!" He said, not stopping.

She went after him. "Bodyguards? Do they really need to be with you when you're at the house?"

"Oh trust me, there is no way they're getting in here!" He said, running off again.

…

Roy returned to Riza that night alone, grinning. "There, that should stop them from interrupting us."

"You're not getting any action until you tell me about this stuff I found in your boxes." Riza informed him.

Roy looked at her shocked and his face turned a deep shade of red. "Y-you went through those?"

"I was unpacking while you were gone and found three boxes of the stuff. I didn't go through them, no. I just closed the boxes back up. I-I saw some of what was in there though and I'm lost as to how they'd be used. Like the handcuffs. Could you explain that to me?"

Roy quickly shrugged. "Even I don't know. They were gifts. Some girls are into some crazy things. I meant to leave those behind. I was planning on getting rid of them tomorrow." Roy fumbled for words. _'Why did I bring those things? Of course Riza's not into them.' _He thought.

"Gifts?" She gave him a look that said she clearly didn't believe him.

Roy started sweating. "I found them under the bed when I moved in. I never used them. I hate that kind of stuff. I was just on my way to burn it and throw it all out." But he knew Riza wouldn't buy it. ". . . I love you so much Riza."

"If you love me so much," She said, putting her arms around him, "you'll stop giving me explanations as to how you got it. I know, I'm not an idiot. And you'll tell me what they are. Or use them on me, your choice." _'He can't miss where I'm getting at now. I've made it too obvious.' _Riza thought to herself, smiling.

Roy grinned. "Well, the best why to learn is by doing. So we better get to the bedroom, because there is a lot to learn." He said, picking her up.

…

**There's only one last Chapter to do and this story is over!**


	25. Happy Ending

**My last opening writer's note. Well, I use the word **_**girls **_**when talking about** **Madam** **Christmas's call girls. I use **_**guys **_**when I'm talking about Roy's Team excluding Riza (and Roy).**

Sir, what is to happen to me?" Riza asked that morning over breakfast. "Do I get a new team here at Central HQs?"

"You are my personal secretary. Do you still have that ring on your necklace?" He added casually.

"Yes sir. I do. I'm going to move it back to my hand. I haven't yet because I've been busy." She blushed a bit, then pulled the necklace out from under her shirt to show him.

Roy held out a hand. "May I have it for a moment? There is a promise I need to keep."

Riza wordlessly took off the chain and slipped the ring off. She gave it to him.

"I'm going to trust you with my back again, but only on the condition that you'll trust me with yours." He said and got up from his chair. Roy got down on one knee and held the ring up to her. "Riza Hawkeye, will you marry me?" How he had been dying to say those words to her.

Riza beamed down at him. "Yes! Yes, I will." She embraced him, then moved away to take the ring, slipping it onto her left hand. She gave him a kiss, then several more before allowing him to get up. "Oh, I can't wait to tell Rebecca!"

Roy stood up and nodded. "Yeah." He looked up. _'I may not believe in heaven, but if you are up there Hughes . . . I did it. I'm finally getting married. To Hawkeye no doubt. You probably saw that one coming. I'm sorry for taking so long. You know military law, but that's no excuse to you.' _Roy thought.

…

"What?! No way! When is it?" Rebecca exclaimed after Riza's announcement over the phone.

It was the evening of the next day, when Riza knew Rebecca would be home from work. "I-we haven't decided yet. We don't even know where to have it."

"Do it over here! In East City!" Rebecca suggested at once.

Riza, smiling, replied, "Rebecca, where ever the wedding is going to be, you shouldn't worry. You, Denny, Maria, Havoc, and even Schultz are invited to come." Not having any family, Riza wanted the few friends she had to be there.

Roy was listening in on what Riza was saying and there was on part he didn't like. "Whoa! Wait, what? You're making a guest list without me? Because there is no way Schultz is coming." Roy broke in.

"Well, you're invited at any rate, I should go, bye." She hung up, then turned to Roy. "You don't want Schultz there? Fine. He doesn't have to come. Is there anyone else you have a problem with?" She asked, wondering if he'd say none of her friends could come.

"No. Why would I? Do you have a problem with me inviting the girls? I know that they would want to be there, and before you say anything, I know that they are . . . whores. But some of them are my closest friends and they will behave themselves. I can promise you that." He let out an anxious sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "And I have not slept with any of them."

She did have a problem with it. Friends that were whores? But she could tell this meant a lot to Roy, knowing he avoided subjects like whores and who he slept with to avoid hurting her. "We. Okay. They can come."

"Thank you." He said, but now he felt bad. "How good of friends are you with Schultz?" If she could be fine with whores, he should be fine with Schultz.

Riza struggled to find a proper answer. "We're not very good friends." Riza said at last. "But he's been more helpful than Rebecca."

That wasn't an answer that made him want to change his mind. Roy certainly didn't have any friends like Riza had just described. "Well, do you want to see him there and would he want to be there? I doubt weddings are a happy occasion for him."

"I don't understand." Riza said.

"Shortly after the Promised Day, Schultz's wife left him, taking both their daughters with her. He's never seen them since and since then he shut down. He lost everything because of it. He just stop caring. Soon his friends, money, and house were gone. The fact he made friends with you surprises me. The man is half dead if not more. The only thing he as left is his job. Its the only thing he seems to care for." Roy wasn't surprised that Riza didn't know. Schultz never talks about it. Roy had heard rumors and watched him change first hand.

He had also read his file recently.

Riza sat down with a sigh. "I didn't know. We aren't close. That's what I meant by not good friends. He always seemed sad and I just thought he had relationship troubles. He's given me good advice that's help our relationship though." She said to Roy, looking at him for a brief moment.

Riza's heart ached for Schultz. _'What is it with me and guys named Thomas?' _She wondered, recalling that Schultz's first name was Thomas. "No. He shouldn't come. You're right." She said softly, then got up and left the room.

It hurt Roy to see Riza go from a woman who was beyond happy about getting married to being upset about what she learned about Schultz. _'I should've kept quiet and let her invite him. NO, she would've found out either way. I shouldn't have gone into so much detail. Hell it still would've been enough to upset her. Why does she have to worry about other people's problems for them? Its stupid. Then again, as fuhrer that's my job. I'm just as stupid.' _He sighed.

Later, in bed, when Riza joined him, Roy turned looked at her. "Are you alright?" He asked her concerned.

Her golden eyes met his. "I'll be fine sir. There's no need to worry."

"You know I can't help but do that." He said, rubbing the back of his hand against her cheek. "Unless you smile."

Riza put a hand over his and attempted to smile a little. It came out a little crooked. "Is that better?"

Roy smiled and kissed her. "Yes. It is."

…

Over the next few days, she didn't manage to push Schultz entirely out of her mind, but carried the hope that things might get better for him. At the very least, he could be promoted and put in charge of East HQs where he would be kept busy, but she wished she could be there for him as a friend and really wished that she had never come onto him. Hopefully, he would make another friend though, since she doubted she'd ever see him or hear from him again.

Roy helped cheer her up though. When they weren't at work, they were planning the wedding together. They enjoyed planning the wedding together, always smiling as they went over it. _'This is really happening.' _He thought.

…

**This is it. This is how the story ends in the online and edited version. The original goes on with Roy and Riza deciding whether or not to have children. It was kind of boring so it was cut out. **

**Riza did almost sleep with Schultz in this story. How close was it? When Riza invited Schultz into her apartment FFF suggested a cut away for their sexytime, but I said let's write out a little more and see. FFF ended up changing her mind.**

**Tell me what you thought about this story!**

**The End.**

**Short chapter, I know, but there is nothing else to write!**

**My next story; The Golden Bird. Check it out! When I have it up. Not yet. Unless you are reading this far off in the future.**


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